Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Guidance Notes for Postal Addresses and Street Names

GUIDANCE NOTES FOR POSTAL ADDRESSES AND STREET NAMES

Address Management

The address of a property is increasingly becoming a very important issue. More organisations, postal and emergency services, and the general public need an efficient means of locating and referencing properties.
It is the council's responsibility to allocate house numbers and road names to new developments and property conversions, as well as informing the Royal Mail in order for them to allocate postcodes.

If a property is not "registered" it will not appear on the main address database and the owner/occupier will encounter difficulties in obtaining mail, goods and services from a variety of sources, for example applying for a credit card or obtaining goods by mail order. The main address database is used by the Council, Royal Mail, all statutory undertakers, emergency services, credit agencies and many private companies

Requests for New Postal Addresses

Who should apply:

· Individuals or developers building new houses, commercial and/or industrial premises.
· Individuals or developers undertaking conversions of residential, commercial or industrial premises which will result in the creation of new properties or premises or the reconsolidation of flats and sub dwellings into one property.

When
Requests for postal addressing must be made in the early stages of any new build since utility companies are reluctant to install a service where an official postal address has not been allocated.

How
Requests must be made to the Highway Network Management Team at the address at the right hand side of this page.

Please note this will also require the submission of a scaled plan showing the full extent of the development and the internal layouts of flats or apartments, clearly showing door and access provision.

Requests for New Street Names

Where new roads are to be constructed developers will be required to propose suitable names for adoption by the Highway Authority.
Street naming is subject to the following criteria:

1. Names cannot be duplicated within the Stockton district.
2. Names for consideration need to be sufficiently unique so as to avoid confusion or misunderstandings.
3. Names of living persons are not normally permissible.
4. Where possible names should reflect the history of the site or acknowledge the geography of the area. Names that construe marketing are not acceptable.
5. Names should not be capable of being twisted into obscene meanings.

Requests for new Street Names can be made in the same way as for postal addresses.

Houses with postal numbers and a name

If you have a postal number for your property but wish to allocate a name as well, the name may only be used on an informal basis and will not be registered by the council. This is because omitting postal numbers in place of a name causes complications for deliveries as well as for the emergency services. You can erect a name plaque on your property and quote the name in the address along with the postal number, but your property will always be known by the number.


Allocation of New Postal Addresses and New Streets

Once the Council has allocated new Postal Addresses and/or new Street Names we ensure that all relevant and statutory authorities and emergency organisations are notified of new address and street designations. We also inform Royal Mail, who are responsible for postcode allocation.
The Royal Mail will not allocate a postcode unless they have received formal notification from the Council of a new address or street designation.
Please note that it is the Councils policy not to amend or change any new address or street name once allocated, unless where errors have been made.

If a development is named and numbered and the development layout is changed to the extent where new names or numbers are required, there will be a charge for this service. This is currently £150 (January 2009).

All new addresses are allocated in accordance with British Standard 7666 :2006