Use text, identifiers and site boundaries for addresses
- Decision
- 0019
- Status
- Proposed
- Date
- 2026-08-05
Context:
Planning applications need two distinct kinds of address information:
- a correspondence address for a person or notification recipient; and
- a readable description of the development site.
Neither an address string nor a property or street identifier is sufficient to describe the extent of a development site, particularly for unaddressed land or sites containing multiple premises. The working discussion is captured in issue #307.
Decision:
Use a contact-address component for correspondence. It contains required
address-text, with optional postcode and singular uprn.
Use a site-address component for a development site. It contains required
address-text, with optional postcode, plural uprns for existing premises
within the site boundary, and plural usrns for associated streets.
Each site-location must contain both a readable site-address and required
geometry, presented as Site boundary in this context. The geometry is
authoritative for the extent of the application site. The planning authority
must translate paper-form information into this structured representation.
Consequences:
- Services can use an address lookup, GOV.UK address pattern or free text, provided they produce the standard data shape.
- UPRNs and USRNs enrich an address where they are known; they do not replace address text or a site boundary.
- UPRNs created by the development are output information and are not recorded during submission as the existing premises to which the application applies.
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