Streamlining developments in Enfield

London Borough of Enfield recently revised their Street Naming and Numbering Policy to ensure that it gave clear and concise information to customers.

The council wanted to provide a policy that avoided ambiguity and gave detailed guidelines and restrictions for street and property naming and numbering. The intention of this was to avoid problems and time-consuming challenges from the outset.

They expanded the ‘Purpose’ of the policy to include information on the council’s LLPG and how the Street Naming and Numbering (SNN) process works.

They wanted the policy to be more user friendly and be in an easy to understand language whereby customers would be able to locate information they required by looking at the index or contents. Also included was to be a specific clause for schools, parks and open spaces due to a rise in academies, free schools and new parks opening in the borough.

How the project was carried out

The previous policy was improved by the SNN Officer, Property Information Officer, GIS Team Leader and GIS & Systems Support Manager. Sessions were held to go through the policy to remove any vague information and to ensure relevant and up to date information was added.

The council needed to ensure that the policy provided clarity for postal and emergency services, and met the national standards and Data Entry Conventions for property addressing and referencing.

Also, configuration of addresses were made clear to customers such as any developments consisting of four or more flats/apartments requiring a block name and a street number to ensure these would be easy to locate and fi t correctly into the LLPG.

They also devised several points on the naming process and listed what would not be permitted, such as naming streets or properties using names that could cause difficulty in pronunciation during an emergency situation.

Once completed, they moved to get the policy approved by the Director of Environment and the Lead Cabinet Member for Environment. Once it had been officially approved they then began to encourage policy adoption across the business by making sure all internal departments were aware of the SNN function.

Outcomes

The policy can be accessed on both the internet and intranet, making it available to both internal staff and members of the public, with each function listed under sub-headings to give more clarification on how each procedure works e.g. Naming of Streets, Naming of Properties etc.

When requests are received, the customer can be directed to the relevant part of the SNN Policy and this ensures any issues are avoided from the beginning as customers are clear on what is permitted.

Because of this, the implementation has ensured that customers have a clear set of guidelines relating to SNN, and since streamlining the policy and processes, problems occurring have been minimised as customers are aware of what is not permissible and the reasons why.

Enfield Council website has also been reworked, and with a more efficient and faster search engine, it is now easier to locate the SNN policy and download any related documents such as the SNN application form.

The new policy has saved time and increased efficiency greatly. It is now more user-friendly and customers are now directed to the policy for any queries. Although the new policy is more detailed, it is also easier to follow and customers are able to select names, or number properties, following the clearly set out guidance it provides.

Key benefits

• SNN process is now defined and documented

• it has created guidance for developers, businesses, residents and internal staff

• there is clarity in addressing for postal and emergency services

• high level awareness of SNN

• reduced paper and storage

• electronic transfer of data

• reduced face-to-face interaction with customers

• clarification of processes to developers/property owners resulting in reduced time-consuming challenges