Street Naming and Numbering

We are legally responsible for the creation of addresses and the maintenance of street name plates.

You have a legal obligation to display your house number and it is essential that your address and postcode are correct. The postal and emergency services, as well as the general public and businesses, need to find and reference properties.

New postal addresses

We are responsible for allocating the number and street name of your property.

If you are building a new property, you will need an official postal address. Please contact us as soon as possible, as an address will be required by service providers before they can arrange the connection of utilities.

Please contact us as soon as possible if you are:

• building more than one property

• re-developing an existing property into multiple dwellings

• developing a large estate.

If a new road name is required, the developer can propose the name or may pass the responsibility to the parish or town council. We check there are no issues with spelling, duplication, pronunciation or offence. An official Street Naming and Numbering Plan is then created and a notification sent to the relevant statutory bodies.

We will also inform Royal Mail, who will complete your full address by confirming your post town and postcode. When you receive your new Street Naming and Numbering Plan from us, you should contact Royal Mail to get your postcode. Please note that we do not issue postcodes.

If your property is not officially registered, you may find it difficult to access services and receive postal deliveries. It could also cause difficulties for the emergency services.

If you notice an error in your address on the electoral register, please contact us and we will update our records.

Adding or changing a house name

You can add a house name or change the current house name of a numbered property.

If your property already has a house number as the official part of the address, then the number cannot be removed.

We will add the house name to the property number and update our internal databases. We also notify Royal Mail who will display both the name and number on their PAF website.

Please note that you must use the allocated house number in conjunction with the property name in all correspondence.

Renaming and/or renumbering a street

We avoid renaming and/or renumbering a street wherever possible as it is a time-consuming process and can be expensive and disruptive for homeowners and occupiers. The process is usually only considered as a last resort or where there are recognised problems for the emergency services. In this instance, we may use our powers for renaming and/or renumbering, provided we have the agreement of all homeowners who would be affected.

Street name plates

The initial erection of street name plates on new developments is the responsibility of the site developer. We then carry out any future repair and replacements.

Cul-de-sacs and no through roads are identified with a "T". We do not add apostrophes, "Leading to..." or property numbers. We will consider adding directional arrows and/or property numbers in exceptional circumstances only.

Please note that it is an offence to attach any notice or advertisement to a street name plate.

Please note that we are not responsible for road signs – these are dealt with by Cambridgeshire County Council.