Agenda item

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Planning Manager concerning the establishment of a framework for the introduction of charges for property addressing.  In order to do this the following issues were considered:

The Public Health Act 1925 - Street Naming

Section 17 of the Act requires that before any street is given a name, notice of the proposed name shall be sent to the Council by the person (usually a developer) proposing to name the street. The Council would then have one month to object to the proposed name. If the person proposing to name the street disagrees with any objection made by the Council, there is a right of appeal to the local Magistrates’ Court. This provision would give the Council control over new street names proposed for use within its area.

Section 18 of the Act enables the Council to alter the name of a street, or part of a street or, if a name has not been given to it, to give a name to the street, or part of it. Any aggrieved person has a right of appeal to the changes proposed to a local Magistrates’ Court.

Section 19 of the Act requires the name of every street to be marked in a conspicuous position in or near the street (e.g. by street name plates) and specifies the penalty that can be imposed on any individual who interferes with it.

The South Yorkshire Act 1980 – Property Numbering

Section 15 of the Act enables the Council to allocate, alter and enforce the display of property numbers. Subsection 5 of the Act allows the Council to require that a building be marked with some other form of identification instead of a number, if it decides that this is more appropriate.

Formal Process for Adoption of The Acts

Once the legislation is adopted, the Council will have the option to charge for its Street Naming and Numbering Service as the provisions are discretionary (under Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003).

The statutory notices referred to in the report and which require advertisement, are to inform the public of the intended adoption and are not part of a consultative process. In this regard, there is no right of appeal or objection, following due advertisement, for any person who may take issue with the proposed adoption.

The statutory notices will, if members agree, be advertised for two consecutive weeks in a local newspaper. Following this, a reportwill be submitted to full Council to consider adoption of the Acts. If adoption takes place, the introduction of charges can take place.

The Statutory Basis for Charging

The Local Government Act 2003

Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003 enables local authorities to charge for the provision of discretionary services but on a cost recovery basis only in relation to each kind of service and taking one financial year with another so as to allow for any adjustment, if in a preceding year, there is a profit or loss.

If charging for discretionary services, a local authority has a duty to charge no more than the costs incurred in providing the service, the aim being to promote the improvement of services to the community, not to make a profit.

Calculation of Charges

Following liaison with Finance Section to establish rates per hour and overheads for this function, a survey was carried out to estimate costs for each part of the property addressing process. The fees are intended to cover the cost of officer working hours, resources utilised in correspondence with relevant authorities and officiated bodies, production of plans and integration of naming and numbering into the Council’s GIS systems.

It was decided that there are five areas where the introduction of a charge would be appropriate:

1.      allocating a name to a street;

2.      allocating a number to a property;

3.      revising property numbers after a schedule has been issued;

4.      changing a house name;

5.      issuing a retrospective address confirmation letter.

In order to underpin the introduction of charges for street naming and property numbering it was considered essential that structured application forms be introduced, designed for postal as well as electronic use.  These will be used to provide enhanced support for tracking and evidence in the various processes.

Resolved:- (1) That the consultation process which would allow the Council to formally adopt Section 17 to 19 (inclusive) of the Public Health Act 1925, Section 15 of the South Yorkshire Act 1980 and the Local Government Act 2003 for property addressing be agreed

(2) That the documented policy and procedures used to name streets and number properties be noted

(3) That the introduction of charges on a cost recovery basis in accordance with the table set out in Appendix 2 to the report be approved

(4)  That it be agreed that future charges be assessed annually (on a cost recovery basis) as part of the Council’s review of fees and charges.