6. Criteria for assigning a New Postal Address
After getting a request for an address for property/properties which currently have no address we will first check for approved planning permission. If this has been granted then we will start the process to create a new address.
If the dwelling does not have Planning Permission
If contacted to address premises without planning permission, we will forward all such requests to Council Tax/Commercial rating and Planning Enforcement. If Council Tax/ Commercial rates make an assessment on the property, we will start the addressing process as long as there is a secure mail delivery point.
We will not number properties without relevant planning permissions. Only dwelling descriptions will be accepted. If an applicant fails to provide an acceptable dwelling description then a descriptive name will be issued. Such names can be changed later by the applicant following the standard procedure (this will incur our standard fee). The reason behind this is to ensure the numbering sequence of any street is not disrupted by additional properties which have not gained proper planning permission and therefore are likely to be subject to enforcement action, which may ultimately result in their removal.
Note: It may be necessary to number such a property (if it is situated on a numbered street) once planning permission has been granted.
Issuing an address to properties without planning permission will have no bearing on planning matters or be capable of being used in support of any planning appeal.
Under no circumstances will we grant an official address without either planning permission (for a business or residential premise) or an assessment for council tax or NNDR being in place. This includes agricultural and other land. We will not allocate a postal address purely for deliveries or satellite navigation systems unless there is a registered business on site with a secure delivery point. This conforms to Royal Mail policy and guidelines.
Holiday Lets
All holiday lets will eventually be added to our property gazetteer which forms part of the National Land and Property Gazetteer. They will be flagged as non-official and non postal in systems that generate mail. This is to assist emergency response and create a unique record for each property for future use.
We will only request an official address from Royal Mail where we have an operational requirement to do so or we believe the property is being used for permanent residency. Such addresses will have to meet Royal Mail's requirements for secure delivery points and we will inform our enforcement section about the believed change of use.
Providing Postcodes
When an approved address is agreed by all parties, Royal Mail will confirm a postcode. The maintenance and any future changes to this Postcode are Royal Mail’s responsibility.
Street Naming and Numbering is not responsible for issuing postcodes. This is the responsibility of Royal Mail. However they will not issue a postcode for a new street or property until requested to do so by the Council.
The Royal Mail primary objective is the efficient delivery of mail; sometimes the town, locality or Postcode may not be quite as expected. Often this is out of our control.
The Royal Mail policy also states: If a field/barn is part of a larger site that has an existing postal address, then under Royal Mails Universal Service Obligation Royal Mail will deliver mail to the delivery point for that main address only. Onward distribution of the mail is not Royal Mails responsibility.
If the field/barn is not part of a larger site that is a postal address then it is not an address and does not qualify for any form of mail delivery.
Royal Mail will not allocate a postal address/postcode to a piece of land, allotment or uninhabited barn for the purpose of deliveries
Applicants should be aware that if they are seeking to change an address there could be a resulting change of postcode, which is outside the control of the Council. This is most likely where the proposed change relates to a road name change or for a sub division into flats. For the simple addition of a house name it is unlikely that there would be a change of postcode.
If a property access changes, the owner/developer must contact us so that we can determine if the property will require a new address to be issued – this could include a different road name and/or a different property number
If a property has a change of access making its original address misleading, or creating issues for other properties, it will be necessary to change the address to ensure there are no issues for emergency and delivery services
If the access changes and we discover this via complaints from other residents, we will write to the property explaining the policy and if possible offering them any options we can, but ultimately the address will need to be changed
Postcodes for commercial premises are allocated in the same way as residential premises, but a large company or business can apply to Royal Mail for its own code – known as a large user code. Application for a large user code is the responsibility of the user, as they will know what volume of mail they generate.
Address Locality
Localities within the official postal address are the responsibility of Royal Mail. Where applicants object to a locality name in their postal address, the Street Name and Numbering team will advise them to consult Royal Mail, who has a procedure laid down in their code of practice by the Postal Services Commission for adding or amending locality details.
We will however, remind applicants that postal addresses are not geographically accurate descriptions, but routing instructions for Royal Mail staff and they can and do contain names for villages, towns and cities that are several miles away.
Royal Mail does not have any authority to issue or confirm addresses. It is responsible for setting the post town and post code for a property. On occasions, Royal Mail may use a different locality detail for their ‘postal address’ to the one contained on our register. We will do everything we can to ensure consistency between our address and their postal address.