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Street Naming & Numbering

Street Naming & Numbering

Clackmannanshire Council, under Section 97 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, has the responsibility for

  • naming and numbering new streets within the county,
  • numbering new buildings erected on an existing street,
  • naming buildings which are located on a street but where neighbouring properties do not have a street number,
  • naming buildings which are not located on a street.

New addresses are created in accordance with British Standard BS7666 which aims to provide a standardised address structure across the UK. As such it may not always be possible to approve or issue an address exactly as a property owner may wish. 

Consultation process

Where a new street name is required, a full consultation process is undertaken. This involves canvassing locally elected members, community councils, schools, etc for their proposals.

When selecting a new street name, these are generally composed of two sections, the first section being a name commonly derived from, for example, the history or geography of the site, a local historical event, a famous piece of architecture or building, local folklore or local landmark etc.

The second part of a street name is normally the descriptive element and in order to ensure that new street names best reflect the design, location, layout or topographical features of the road being named, the second part of a street name will be provided by local authority officers.

This consultation process takes an average of 2 months so developers, be it companies or individuals, should request postal addresses at the earliest opportunity.  To this end, an application form is usually sent out with the relevant building warrant approval package where applicable

After consultation, there is a validation process undertaken with the Royal Mail Address Development Centre and then a report is sent to Council as all new street names are approved by the Council's Planning Committee.

Property Names

Clackmannanshire Council will not attach house names to properties that already have a house number. However, there are some occasions, mainly in rural areas or on unnamed roads, when it is impractical to number properties. On these occasions, the property name becomes the only unique identifier.

Before property names are confirmed, checks are carried out within the local vicinity to ensure that there is no duplication of names thereby limiting confusion with emergency services, delivery companies etc. To this end, it may not always be possible to accept or register an owner's suggested or preferred name.

Post Codes

Post codes are issued by the Royal Mail Address Development Centre after they receive notification of the official addresses from the Local Authority.

The contact address for the issuing of post codes/post code enquiries is:

Royal Mail Address Development Centre
Admiral House, 2 Admiral Way
Doxford International Business Park
Sunderland
SR3 3XW

Publishing New Address

Once new street names/numbering/property names have been approved by the Local Authority, the Building Standards Team inform a standard list of organisations (currently 19) which include the Royal Mail, emergency services, Assessors for Central Scotland, utility companies, etc.  The developer/owner will receive a similar notification which would include the relevant Royal Mail contact details.

Royal Mail

The Royal Mail's website is regarded as the definitive source of addresses by delivery companies, banks, building societies etc.

If an address has not been registered through the Council, the chances are that it will not be on the Royal Mail website and the above companies may decline to provide their services.

We endeavour to pass new addresses to the Royal Mail before there is any need for mail delivery. The Royal Mail record these addresses initially as "not yet built" and do not publish them on their website until they are informed that the houses are ready for occupation. Therefore, as this stage, these addresses cannot be viewed by other parties.

When houses/properties are ready for occupation (usually on the granting of a temporary habitation certificate or completion certificate by the Building Standards team), it then becomes the developer's responsibility to inform the Royal Mail Address Development Centre of this approval.  Once notification has been received, the Royal Mail will add any "not yet built" addresses to their live system, thereby making them visible to the general public.   

Charges

On 1st April 2015, Clackmannanshire Council introduced charges for the naming and numbering of new streets and properties (ie all new builds or changes to existing properties which result in the creation or deletion of postal addresses). A list of the current charges is noted below:

Fee Table
Description Fee
Naming of a New Street £187.00
Numbering of 1 New Unit £96.00
Numbering of 2-5 New Units £139.00
Numbering of 6-10 New Units £192.00
Numbering of 11-25 New Units £373.00
Numbering of 26-50 New Units £640.00
Numbering of 51-100 New Units £960.00
Numbering of 100+ New Units £1227.00
Re-numbering after Statutory Notification As per unit cost

Further Information

To enquire about any aspect of street naming and numbering please contact us using the details below, or alternatively, contact the Street Naming and Numbering Team direct on 01259 452540/452561.

For Further Information Contact

Building Standards
Kilncraigs, Greenside Street, Alloa, FK10 1EB
Tel: 01259 450000
Email: