FOI request (FOIR-686131624)

List of names and numbers assigned to properties by the Authority

Requested Mon 10 February 2025
Responded Fri 28 March 2025

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. My understanding is that you are the authority statutorily responsible for naming and numbering properties and streets within your jurisdiction under the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 and the Public Health Act 1925.

This data forms a critical part of our national infrastructure, enabling economic growth, research, and innovation. Businesses rely on accurate naming and numbering data to serve customers, manage logistics, and make investment decisions. Academic researchers use it to study housing patterns, urban development, and social trends. Local organisations and charities need it to deliver their services to the community. Open access to authoritative naming and numbering data can drive efficiency in the private sector, enable evidence-based policymaking, and foster technological innovation in areas like delivery services and property technology. Given these significant public benefits, there is a clear and strong public interest in ensuring this foundational data is openly available for analysis, verification, and reuse.

Please provide an up-to-date list of all current properties within the Authority's jurisdiction, in Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv) format. Where the word 'assigned' is used, it is referring to what the Authority deems to be the official value for the purposes of administering its naming and numbering duties. Please include the following 9 columns:

1. "Property local authority reference": the reference the Authority uses internally to uniquely identify the property.

2. "Property name": the officially recognised name of the property. Leave blank if no name is assigned.

3. "Property number": the number of the property on its street. For example, "13", "221B" or "18-20". Leave blank if no number is assigned.

4. "Property sub-division name": flat, apartment, unit or suite names/numbers, for example. Leave blank if the property is not a sub-division.

5. "UPRN": the Unique Property Reference Number.

6. "Street local authority reference": the reference the Authority uses internally to uniquely identify the street the property is located on.

7. "Street name": the name of the street the property is located on. For example, "High Street". Leave blank if no name is assigned.

8. "Street number": the number of the street the property is located on, such as "A12" or "B123". Non-standard numbers used internally by the Authority such as "C", "D" and "U" roads are also acceptable, but not required. Leave blank if no number is assigned.

9. "USRN": the Unique Street Reference Number of the street the property is located on.

As far as I am aware, the Authority does not make this data available elsewhere. Some commercial products provide access to data that is derived from the Authority's assigned names and numbers, but they have been further modified and mixed with third-party data sources, meaning I cannot actually access the data I am requesting via these products. The expensive and restrictive commercial licences also mean the data is not easily accessible or usable.

Due to the existence of commercial products that use this public data, I understand the Authority may need to consider how this request could prejudice these commercial interests. The data I have requested is fundamentally required for the Authority to perform its statutory duties: there is no ambiguity that this data forms part of the public record.

UPRNs and USRNs are explicitly designated as open identifiers available under the Open Government License. While GeoPlace coordinates the national system, the Authority is still performing the statutory function of assigning names and numbers, and is creating these national identifiers as part of their duties. The fact that UPRNs and USRNs are national standards reinforces their public nature; they are specifically designed to be universal reference points that enable interoperability across different systems and organisations. They are meant to be used alongside this data, which is why they were made openly available in the first place.

Furthermore, the use of third-party data is not required to fulfil this request since the Authority is responsible for the assignment of all the data I am requesting, including UPRNs and USRNs. The data also cannot be considered intellectual property since it is entirely factual.

Response

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

1. Information not held

2. Refused - Exempt information under section 43 (commercial interests) - please see below

3. Refused - Exempt information under section 43 (commercial interests) - please see below

4. Refused - Exempt information under section 43 (commercial interests) - please see below

5. This information is available at:

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/os-open-uprn

6. Information not held

7. This information is available at:

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/os-open-roads

8. Information not held

9. This information is available at:

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/os-open-usrn

NOTICE OF REFUSAL

The information you have requested in terms of Q2, Q3, and Q4 is commercially sensitive and falls under Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act - Commercially Sensitive Information - Information prejudicing commercial interests - commercial interest relating to an organisations commercial activity and may include trading activity procurement and relationships with third parties.

The exemption afforded by Section 43 is subject to what is known as the 'public interest test'. When applying the test in a particular case a public authority is deciding whether the public interest is better served by non-disclosure than by disclosure.

Although the Freedom of Information Act does not define 'in the public interest', there is a presumption under Freedom of Information that openness is in the public interest. In applying the public interest test a public authority will take into account the distinction that has been often made by courts between things that are in the public interest, and things that merely interest the public. Where applicants have not identified public interest considerations succinctly or accurately, the public authority has a responsibility under the Act to make their own assessment of the public interest considerations in the particular case.

We have identified the following public interest factors that may be seen as encouraging the disclosure of information:

a. accountability of public spending.

We consider these factors to be of limited relevance in relation to the information in question.

Public interest factors seen as encouraging non-disclosure are, generally, the exemptions themselves. In consideration of this matter we came to the following conclusions:

a. the release of the information would prejudice the commercial interests of both GeoPlace and Ordnance Survey.

b. the release of the information would lead to a significant risk of copyright and/or database right infringement.

c. loss of commercial revenue.

In weighing the factors for and against disclosure we have concluded that the likely benefit to the applicant and the wider public of disclosure is outweighed by the likely prejudice caused by such disclosure and that therefore the public interest is better served by non-disclosure.

For the reasons given above we will not be communicating to you the information you have requested.