Applying for official addresses - street or building names and numbers

Criteria for new names and numbers

  1. The name should not duplicate, or be similar to, an existing name or part of a name in the same locality, as defined by the emergency services. A variation in the terminal word/suffix ("Road", "Close", "House" etc) is not considered sufficient difference if the name includes a word already in use locally. Care should also be taken to avoid phonetically similar names in the same area (such as "Churchill Road" and "Birch Hill Road")
  2. The name should not be difficult to pronounce or awkward to spell for the majority of the population, and should be easy to understand over the telephone, particularly in an emergency situation. Names of three syllables or less are generally preferred.
  3. The name should not include words having aesthetically unsuitable or offensive connotations for the general public or a particular community, or be capable of deliberate misinterpretation or double meaning.
  4. The addition of "north", "south", "east" or "west" to a name can only be approved in circumstances where a long continuous road passes over a major junction. It's not acceptable when the road is in two separate parts with no vehicular access between the two. In such cases, one part of the road should have a completely different name.
  5. Where appropriate street numbers are available, subsidiary names for a row of buildings within an existing named road will not be approved.
  6. No new street or building name should begin with "the", for example, "The Coppice".
  7. All new names should end with a terminal word or suffix from the list in "Approved suffixes for new street and building names", which indicates the nature of the development.
  8. Avoid misleading names such as Tennis Court, Dead End Road etc.
  9. No use of punctuation, except for the abbreviation of St, Saint.
  10. Names should ideally reflect local history or relate to geographical or environmental features of the area and site/development.
  11. Street, building and flat numbers are allocated in numerical order without exception. Numbers with superstitious, religious or cultural connotations will not be excluded or changed.
  12. Numbers will rise consecutively. Where street numbers with letters are required (for example, 5a, 5b), these will also rise. So, for example, 5a would be between street numbers 5 and 7 and not between street numbers 3 and 5.