Street naming and numbering policy

4.1 The Street Naming and Numbering Officer will use these guidelines when agreeing a new street name. Developers and Parish / Town Councils should follow these guidelines for any suggested street names.

4.2 New street names should not duplicate any similar name already in use in the same locality, the same town, post town or within a 10k radius of a neighbouring SNN authority’s administrative area. A variation in the terminal word, for example, “street”, “road”, “avenue”, will not be accepted as sufficient reason to duplicate a name.

4.3 A common request is to repeat existing names in a new road or building title (for example a request for “St Mary’s Close” off an existing St Mary’s Way, near St Mary’s Church). This is not allowed as it can have a detrimental effect in an emergency situation. This is in line with Government guidance found in Department of Transport Circular 3/93. (Appendix F paragraph 3)

4.4 Street names should not be difficult to pronounce, awkward to spell or where punctuation may give rise to variations.

4.5 The Council will not adopt any unofficial ‘marketing’ titles used by developers in the sale of new properties. 5

4.6 Names will not be considered that may be construed as contravening any aspect of the Council’s Equality and Diversity Policy or would undermine the cohesiveness of local communities.

4.7 In order to avoid potential confusion with building names, street names must not include the word “The” or end with a possessive (i.e. Apostrophe s) or plural words (e.g. “The Saltings”)

4.8 Names that may be taken as advertising (i.e. company name) will not be accepted

4.9 All new street names should ideally end with one of the following suffixes:

• Street (for any thoroughfare except in Welwyn Garden City)
• 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) subject to there being no confusion with any local open space
• Place (for residential roads)
• Crescent (for a crescent shaped road)
• Close (for a cul-de-sac only)
• Square (for a square only)
• Hill (for a hillside road only)
• Circus (for large roundabouts with residential properties)
• Vale (for residential roads, in appropriate circumstances)
• Rise (for residential roads, in appropriate circumstances)
• Row (for residential roads, in appropriate circumstances)

4.10 All new pedestrian ways should end with one of the following suffixes:

• Walk
• Path
• Way

4.11 For private houses with postal numbering it is sufficient that the name should not repeat the name of the road or that of any other house or building in the same postcode area, see Procedure for Address Changes below.

        4.11.1 For private houses which are named only, the process is at 4.2.

4.12 The use of North, East, South or West (as in North Road and South Street) is only acceptable where the road is continuous and passes over a major junction. It is not acceptable when the road is in two separate parts with no vehicular access between the two.

4.13 The Council will avoid having two phonetically similar names within a postal area and, if possible within the Borough, for example Churchill Road and Birch Hill Road. 6

4.14 The use of a name which relates to people either living or those alive during living memory should be avoided if possible. Only in exceptional circumstances will consideration be given and justification will be required as well as the consent of either the person concerned or their family.