Development Management
Statutory Register - Street Naming and Numbering
Your location is an important issue. It can be a matter of life or death when emergency services are requested. It will be the way most services are provided by public bodies.
Deliveries are made to an address, frequently using satellite navigation systems for guidance. An address is also used as a verification of identity for security and personal finance matters.
The local council is the Street Naming and Numbering Authority for the area. This was established in the Public Health Act 1925 sections 17-19 and detailed in the London Building Act Part II Amendment of 1939.
Landlords, owners and other organisations can invent credible addresses for property but without an approved address for a property it will be difficult for anyone occupying it to obtain all services they expect.
From April 2008 the council has been making a small charge for informing interested parties of newly agreed approved property labels and updating its records on properties.
Can I name my house without contacting the council?
You can adopt a name for a property without telling anyone - but you should not expect anyone to use that name. If the council is requested to approve a name, some tests will be made before it could be approved. We will always expect a property to have a number as this will locate it within a street.
A property must have agreed a unique address conforming to BSI 7666 standards to be approved: This standard uses the following format:
- (Optionally) A unit or flat number
- A property label (which can have a name and must have a number)
- The street name
- (Optionally) Locality (where necessary to differentiate similar streets within a town)
- Town
- (Optionally) The area name (this could for example be Essex)
- Postcode
A postcode is allocated by Royal Mail as a key to delivering post. Postcodes will only be allocated by Royal Mail to approved addresses. Currently it can take over 6 months for satellite navigation systems to be updated with new address records.
The Royal Mail does not recognise Chadwell Heath as a town and regards this area as part of Romford, hence for delivery purposes Chadwell Heath is regarded as a locality within Romford.
Developing property
An application form (
PDF 121K) is available which describes the information which the council requires in order to assess a proposed new property label or address.
If you are a developer of a new property (single or small development), you should contact us as soon as you start work on site. A single or small development will usually be named or numbered into the existing street.
Where new property numbers are not available initial recourse should be made use suffix numbers (for example 12A, 12B, 12C). If this is not possible then the development will also need to be named.
The approved property list will not usually contain plot numbers or developers marketing names. Transactions with the council can use the Unique Property Reference Number instead of the approved address. Unique Property Reference Numbers will be issued with the approved address notifications.
Developments which include lifts will need advance naming/numbering approval as the emergency telephones within lifts will need accounts set up with telecom providers and they expect a postcode to be part of the location information for the telephone.
We will endeavour to contact any developer to agree addresses for the development following the commencement of work on site.
What happens if a street needs renaming / renumbering?
On rare occasions it becomes necessary to rename or renumber a street. This is usually only done as a last resort when:
- To organise records where the property involved has been the subject of confusion for visitors, deliveries or emergency services
- Where a street has developed with only named properties and because of the development of properties this has started to cause confusion
- Where a street has been divided into 2 distinct parts
If residents of an area are not content with their location description a clear majority must approve a proposal for a change. This will not necessarily result in the postcode for the area being changed by Royal Mail.
For further information see the background web pages.
Application form
Application for approval of property or street naming or numbering - Word 
60K
Application for approval of property or street naming or numbering - PDF 121K
Once completed, the application form needs to be emailed to streetnamingandnumbering@lbbd.gov.uk.
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