Street Naming & Numbering

Please note can all issues with Street Naming and Numbering be sent to our email 3015snn@broxtowe.gov.uk 

The Council has a legal duty to carry out the statutory function of Street Naming and Numbering under The Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 used together with section 21 of the Public Health Acts Amendment 1907.

All types of developments are subject to the formal SNN process, including all residential, commercial and industrial properties. We do not create addresses for non-postal properties or land such as fields with a post-box on the gate, Rooms within Houses in Multiple Occupation properties or cluster flats, churches, etc. but these will be added to our Local Land and Property Gazetteer, if appropriate. So please get in touch to let us know the details of your development and we can then advise.

Why is Street Naming and Numbering important?

Street Naming and Numbering is essential for:

• Helping the public find buildings easily;

• Efficient delivery of post;

• Fast responses to emergencies by ambulance, police, and fire services;

• Record-keeping of legal transactions, taxation, planning data, etc.

You can find out more by downloading our guidance leaflet.(.pdf) (2.73MB) (Opens in a New Window) (Opens in a New Window)

Please get in touch with us if you need the following

Residential

• Street names - if you are a developer, building a large development that you think will include new streets, please contact us prior to the start of construction.
• A house number for a newly-built property that you have moved into (though please, whenever possible, contact us when construction starts, rather than when construction is complete - obviously we understand that this is not your fault if you are not the builder/developer).
• A house number if you have moved into a property that you think may not have one - e.g. because you have experienced problems when trying to obtain services or deliveries.
• A flat number if a house has been converted into flats or if an existing shop has had a flat converted above it - or similar scenarios.
• A property name for a property if your existing property has a name only (this is rare and will usually only occur because there are no numbered properties on your street) and you wish to change it, though we will always check to see if it is possible to allocate a number as a property number aids the emergency services and delivery services to find you much more effectively and efficiently than a property name.
• If you have looked up your postcode or address on Royal Mail's website and cannot find it.
• If you have moved into a property and don't know what the address is.

Commercial

• A property number for a commercial building
• New numbers because you are splitting down or merging commercial units.
• A property number for a commercial building, if you move into one that appears to be using the previous business name as the address. If you just start using your own business name as the address no other organisation will know that you are doing this. You must contact the Street Naming and Numbering Officer at the Council to apply for a building number.
• Numbers for suites of offices within an office block, if the building is subdivided.

Other considerations

• Please note Royal Mail does not create addresses for new properties, this is the duty of the Street Naming and Numbering section at the Council. Once we have created an address we then pass this to all relevant departments in the Council and Royal Mail, as well as organisations such as the Valuation Office, the Land Registry etc. So please contact us first, and wherever, possible before the development has been built.
• We have no objection to a house name being used as part of an existing postal address, but it cannot replace the house or building number, which must always be used, and the house name will not be part of your official address.
• The house name will not be a formal part of your address if the property has a number.
• Street numbers and building names should always be prominently displayed where they can be easily read from the public highway. Where the property is at some distance from the public road, the number/name should also be displayed at the access point to the property.
• It can cause considerable delays agreeing a street name that both the Council and the applicant are satisfied with. We endeavour to name all streets after local site history; therefore the Council appreciates street name suggestions being put forward as the applicant is often the person who knows the local history of the site best. However, the Council has a responsibility to create names that are as sensible and unambiguous as possible and therefore requests that if an applicant wishes to suggest names they put forward approximately 8 – 10 in order that the Council can choose a name that fits national naming criteria. Each applicant should be aware that the Council will ultimately decide the street name in accordance with its statutory powers mentioned above.
• No duplicate street names are allowed within our borough and nearby. Only the stem of the street name is considered, therefore we cannot allow the name Rose Gardens (e.g.) if a street named Rose Street/Avenue/Close etc. already exists.
• The suffix of a street name will always be chosen by the Council.
• The Council is responsible for allocating all property numbers, including flats and offices etc. within subdivided buildings. Numbering for a subdivided building with one communal entrance will be consecutive and clockwise from the main entrance whenever possible but sometimes the internal layout will mean this is not possible and other numbering schemes will then be applied. Hotel-style numbering is not used.
• We ask that you consider the time spent on having to manually 'clean-up' plans supplied to us when they are cluttered with measurements, drainage details etc., and try to ensure that plans you supply to us clearly show the layout of the new properties overlaid onto the Ordnance Survey Master Map layer, with no additional information such as measurements etc. It is important that entrances are clearly labelled on plans, including entrances within subdivided buildings such as flats or offices etc. Please avoid sending photos of plans.
• Please note that if you wish to request that an existing street name plate is moved as part of building work you are doing (e.g. as part of garden/drive alterations) you should contact our Environment department via Customer Services on 0115 917 7777 or by emailing environment@broxtowe.gov.uk. This also applies if you wish to report a missing or damaged street name plate.