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Report of Head of Corporate Services Author: Sally Worsley, Street Naming and Numbering Officer E-mail: sally-anne.worsley@southandvale.gov.uk To: Licensing Acts Panel DATE: 20 February 2023 |
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To present the evidence to the panel to enable the panel to make a decision on the recommendation in the best interests of residents affected
Background
The street naming and numbering function is to ensure properties are given either a number as part of a consecutive numbering system or a house name that is not duplicated within the vicinity, and a street name. A street name plate and a prominently displayed house number or name is for the safety of residents as they provide a visual, on the ground guidance for the drivers of the emergency services.
The district council is the street naming and numbering authority and is responsible for creating and changing the first two lines of all addresses as required under Sections 13 and 14 of the Oxfordshire Act 1985. Royal Mail is responsible for applying the remainder of the address. The district council is also responsible for displaying street name plates at the extents of all streets but is only permitted to do so when a street has been named under the relevant enactment. This would also include the previous Act, Section 64 of the Towns Improvements Act 1847.
Some rural settlements are without the benefit of street names and may have a few unnamed streets running in different directions within the settlement. The settlement of Preston Crowmarsh has one main unnamed street running through it and it’s numbered 1 to 114 Preston Crowmarsh, which provides a consecutive sequence. But where a settlement has more than one unnamed street and the properties are all named it’s more difficult for the emergency services to find the correct property.
In late 1998 Bix and Assendon Parish Council made a request to the district council to officially name White Lane (See Letter Appendix 1). The district council duly proposed the naming and carried out a 28-day consultation as required by Section 13 of the Oxfordshire Act 1985 (See Public Notice and Plan Appendix 2). Three objections were received (See Objections Appendix 3), and the matter was referred to the Community Services Committee on 18 March 1999. It would appear the committee found in favour of the district council’s proposal as a letter confirming the naming was sent to Bix and Assendon Parish Council on 19 March 1999 (See Letter Appendix 4). A street name plate was subsequently installed at the western extent of White Lane. Unfortunately, White Lane was never added to Royal Mail’s postal addresses, which was only noticed by the district council several years later; but too late to just add the name without carrying out another consultation.
In January 2023 a resident of one of the properties in White Lane made a telephone request to the district council to have White Lane added to their postal address. However, Royal Mail would require all the addresses with the same post code to have White Lane included. Therefore, it was necessary to repeat the 28-day consultation which was carried out between the 12 of January and 10 of February 2023. (See Covering Letter, Public Notice and Plan Appendix 5). The consultation resulted in two objections which were received from the same household (See Objections Appendix 6).
Financial Implications
4. None.
5. None.
6.
7.
8. Royal Mail addresses are sold on a commercial basis and appear on all manner of web site address dropdowns. There is also an increasing number of organisations referring to Royal Mail as the benchmark for official addresses and post codes. It’s therefore crucial that the district council and Royal Mail addresses are in step. Street name plates should only be present where the street name is part of any corresponding address and may cause confusion if the expected street name is missing. To ensure that there is a consistent position it is considered appropriate that either the street name is added to the seven addresses to accord with the street name plate, or the addresses are left as they are, and the street name plate is removed.
· Plan showing the extent of White Lane and the properties involved.
