Who looks after postal addresses and postcodes?
The developer approaches the Council's street naming and numbering service once work has started on site for a new property or development in the district. Once planning approval and building regulation approval have been confirmed, the Council starts the process of street naming and numbering.
The Council assigns a postal address to a property, and informs the Royal Mail. The Royal Mail then assigns a postcode to the property.
It is important that you approach the Council for a postal address when work starts on site. It takes time to make the necessary checks and carry out any consultation, and there is currently a significant amount of development taking place across the district.
The process of allocating a postcode to a property can take up to 6-8 weeks.
Once the number or name of the property has been agreed, a letter is sent to the developer or owner confirming the new address. A circular is then sent to organisations who need to know such as Royal Mail, Land Registry and other departments of Rochford District Council such as Planning, Council Tax, Electoral Services.
Please apply to the Council in good time, as failure to do so could have an impact on receiving deliveries and post on site, connecting to utility companies, and emergency services responses.
You must not proceed with any naming or numbering scheme without the Council's approval in writing.
I'm building a new 'single' property - how do I get a street number and postal address?
The developer or owner should contact the Council's street naming and numbering service with the number of the approved planning application and the building regulation reference as soon as work begins on site.
Contact is made by either letter to the Council's office address or contact us using this form
This will allow the street naming team to locate the approved plans, and any postal address will be allocated on this basis.
If the property is located in an existing numbered street, then the next logical number is allocated. If the property is not in a numbered street, then the developer or owner is asked to suggest 3 names for the property.
The Council assigns a postal address to the property, and informs the Royal Mail. The Royal Mail then assigns a postcode to the property.
Once the number or name of the property has been agreed, a letter is sent to the developer or owner confirming the new address. A circular is then sent to organisations who need to know such as Royal Mail, Land Registry and other departments of Rochford District Council such as Council Tax and Electoral Services.
Rochford District Council cannot issue formal naming and numbering unless it has received notification from you of approved planning and building regulation applications and work has started on site.
The process of allocating a postcode to a property can take up to approximately 4 weeks.
Please apply to the Council in good time, as failure to do so could have an impact on receiving deliveries and post on site, connecting to utility companies, and emergency services responses.
You must not proceed with any naming or numbering scheme without the Council's approval in writing.
I'm building a new development - how do I get street names and numbers?
You - the developer or owner - should contact the Council's street naming and numbering service with the number of the approved planning application and the building regulation reference as soon as work begins on site. Any suggestions for new street or development names should be sent at the same time.
If the development needs NHBC approval then a site plan should be submitted in electronic format which should be a pdf.
Contact is made by either letter to the Council's office address or contact us using this form
This will allow the street naming team to locate the approved plans, and any postal address will be allocated on this basis. The local Councillor(s) are then consulted on the proposed street/development names.
The developer may ask the Council to make proposal, in which case a number of names will be suggested and put out to consultation.
Once an agreement is reached between the developer and the Council the naming of the street(s) or development is then confirmed.
The Council assigns a postal address to each property, and informs the Royal Mail. Who then assign postcodes to each property.
The process of allocating a postcode to a development can take up to 6-8 weeks and is dependent on the size of the development. Consultation about suggested names also takes time.
With larger developments (10 plots or more) it is recommended that the site plan is broken up into phases. The postal addresses will be released phase by phase, as later amendments to street naming and numbering can be costly to organisations.
The naming and numbering scheme is then released to other Council services. Importantly, a circular is also sent to Royal Mail and Land Registry.
Rochford District Council cannot issue formal naming and numbering unless it has received notification of an approved planning application and work has started on site.
Please apply to the Council in good time, as failure to do so could have an impact on receiving deliveries, post, connecting of utilities and importantly emergency services responses.
You must not proceed with any naming or numbering scheme without the Council's approval in writing.
All suffixes must comply with the list below. This provides a standardised format for all street names:
- Street (for any thoroughfare)
- Road (for any thoroughfare)
- Way (for major roads)
- Avenue (for residential roads)
- Drive (for residential roads)
- Grove (for residential roads)
- Lane (for residential roads)
- Gardens (for residential roads) provided it does not clash with any local open space
- Place (for residential roads)
- Crescent (for crescent shaped road)
- Court/Close (for cul-de-sac only)
- Square (for square only)
- Hill (for hillside road only)
- Vale (for residential roads)
- Rise (for residential roads)
- Row (for residential roads)
- Wharf (for residential roads)
- Mews (for residential roads)
- Terrace (for residential roads)
How do I contact the Council's street naming and numbering service?
You can contact the Council's street naming and numbering service. This can be by either e-mail or letter. Requests must be in writing to avoid confusion and to enable the necessary checks to be made.
The postal address is Rochford District Council, Street naming and numbering, Council Offices South Street Rochford Essex SS4 1BW.
Who's responsible for street name plates?
For new developments, it is the responsibility of the developer to install any new street name plates before they leave site, and for maintenance in the first year.
After the first year, Rochford District Council then takes on responsibility for street nameplates. We can help with the following:
- street name plate repairs
- street name plate specifications
- street name plate production
Please contact the Council depot on 01702 318005 or email depot@rochford.gov.uk for more information, or if you would like the Council to produce a street name plate for a new development on your behalf.