Property naming criteria

West Suffolk Council have a responsibility to ensure addresses are clear, practical and free of confusion.

All property names must be unique to the postcode area. For postcodes starting with CB8 or CB9, the postcode area is defined as the first 4 digits of the postcode, for example CB8, 9. For postcodes beginning with IP or CO, the postcode area is defined as the first 5 digits, for example IP32 6. West Suffolk Council may consider making an exception to this in particularly large postcode areas such as IP28 6 where West Suffolk Council deem that the whole address is sufficiently distinctive from any existing addresses.

The following criteria is applicable to all property names:

Property names must:

• Have an appropriate suffix which accurately describes the property type. For example, a two-storey house may not be called ‘Bungalow’.
• Contain less than 30 characters.
• Be easy to spell and pronounce.
• Be sustainable regardless of the business that is occupying the premises.
• Be easily identifiable without ambiguity or confusion.
• Allow emergency services to locate the street quickly in an emergency.
• Allow mail and goods to be delivered successfully.
• Allow visitors to locate where they want to go.

Property names must not:

• Cause offence or be considered rude obscene, discriminatory, racist, controversial or contravene any of West Suffolk Council’s equal opportunities policy either on their own or in combination with property numbers or street names.
• Be named after any persons.
• Be the same or similar to an existing property name within the same locality or postal town regardless of postcode. A variation of the suffix does not provide sufficient differentiation between property names.
• Be the same or similar to an existing property name in a town or locality which sounds similar to another (for example Ickworth and Ixworth) unless West Suffolk Council deem that the whole address would be sufficiently different. A variation of the suffix does not provide sufficient differentiation between property names.
• Be shared amongst a group of properties, for example 1 and 2 New Cottages.
• Begin with ‘The’ or ‘A’ as these can cause problems for emergency services.
• Not contain any special characters or punctuation.
• Be based on the trading name, products or services provided by any business occupying the property.
• Contain numbers that could cause confusion, for example One House.

The consent of the Lord Chamberlain’s office must be obtained if a property name will have any reference to the Royal Family, the use of the word ‘Royal’ or any other protected Royal titles. West Suffolk Council will request this consent once the property name has been checked against the criteria above. If a proposed property name will require consent from The Lord Chamberlain’s office, it should be accompanied through the consultation process with an additional name in case consent is not granted.