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Since that time the government's Improvement and Development Agency, Intelligent Addressing Ltd and Local Government address managers have been working in partnership to produce a definitive index of all land parcels and buildings, including those in multiple occupation, with a nationally Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN).
With Birmingham on board, all councils with a statutory responsibility for Street Naming and Numbering are now submitting updates to the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) central hub. With over 29 million unique addresses the NLPG is set to take its place as the de facto addressing standard for England and Wales and through linkage with the National Gazetteer for Scotland, the Scottish addressing initiative, the whole of Britain.
The NLPG, defined by BS7666 is rapidly gaining in maturity. In 2007 it was chosen to underpin the new FiReControl project and is used increasingly by Police forces as the best source of address information. The constituent parts, the Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPGs), are already deeply integrated into the systems and processes of Local Authorities. Maintaining a single address database for referencing everything from Council Tax to planning applications introduces dramatic efficiencies and opportunities for joined up government and improved service delivery.
A recent report by CEBR estimated that GBP55 million per annum could be saved as a result of using gazetteers in those councils responsible for creating and maintaining them. It is suspected that many hundreds of millions of pounds more could be saved with the introduction of the NLPG across the public sector as part of the need to transform the way government interacts with people and businesses.
"Until recently there wasn't a single definitive list of all the addresses for the country, meaning that many government and private services have not been sure if addresses from differing sources refer to the same or different properties," said Michael Nicholson, Managing Director of Intelligent Addressing. "There has always been an understanding that the NLPG could not ultimately succeed unless every authority within England and Wales was signed up to the process. The success of the initiative is however there for all to see with new applications and processes coming to light every day," continued Nicholson.
25 February 2008
Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of Intelligent Addressing Ltd | www.intelligent-addressing.co.uk | www.nlpg.org.uk
