As a Street and/or Address Custodian, you hold the key to one of local government’s most valuable assets: precise, place-based data.
Under the Government’s local government reorganisation programme, councils across England are undergoing significant reorganisation to deliver better services. Your expertise in managing Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) and Unique Street Reference Numbers (USRNs) is crucial to ensuring these transformations succeed.
GeoPlace is here to amplify your impact, providing resources and support to help you integrate your expertise into the reorganisation process and showcase your value within your local authority.
Amplify your influence
Senior decision-makers will face tough challenges during the reorganisation process. There are many ways in which Custodians can raise the profile of their own value and offer the support that’s needed to make full use of UPRNs and USRNs, but it’s essential to get involved as soon as possible in the reorganisation process.
Here’s are some examples from organisations that have already been through the process. Utilise these learnings to engage with LGR process and to shape a smoother, more effective reorganisation process:
- Case studies: Draw on real-world examples from councils like Cumbria, Dorset, Buckinghamshire, Somerset and Cumberland/Westmoreland and Furness Councils, demonstrating how location data has driven successful mergers, splits, and system integrations.
- Free tools: Access reports like How well are you using address data to provide decision-makers with actionable insights.
- Personalised support: Connect with GeoPlace for guidance on aligning your expertise with your council’s reorganisation goals.
- Expert insights: Share findings from the LGR roundtable sessions at the 2025 GeoPlace conference, covering best practices for data disaggregation, terminology standardisation, and more, to spark meaningful discussions.
LGR roundtable sessions at the GeoPlace conference 2025
Discussion topics facilitated by Cheshire East Council included:
- How do you determine, without prejudice, which streets and addressing software to use for the new authority?
- If dealing with a change of software, what technical problems may arise, such as uploading problems, authority codes etc.
- How do I merge data from different authorities?
- How do I break streets and addressing data up?
Devolution – what are the impacts for the disaggregation and merging of local authorities? Cheshire East Council
Discussion topics facilitated by BCP Council included:
- How good is the data? Understand the quality of the data on day one
- Are the right people around the table?
- Does everybody use the same terminology?
- Has everybody agreed on how the data will be processed going forwards?
Devolution – what are the impacts for the disaggregation and merging of local authorities? BCP Council
Discussion from Westmorland & Furness Council included:
- Understanding the current systems and contracts
- Options for maintaining service provision during transition
- Governance and stakeholder engagement
- Summary points and recommendations
Devolution – what are the impacts for the disaggregation and merging of local authorities? Westmorland & Furness Council
External Link
UPRNs & USRNs in local government reorganisation
UK Authority has published an article
Maximising value for your own authority
Utilise tools from GeoPlace to implement and integrate UPRNs and USRNs into workflows and systems:
- review the GeoPlace procurement guide and use the self-assessment tool and procurement generator when procuring new system
- adopt the data policy principles developed by GeoPlace, and supported by the Local Government Association and Socitm, designed to help local authorities maximise the effective use of address data and UPRNs
- use the GeoPlace DataVia API to seamlessly integrate authoritative street data into GIS and other HTTP-based applications. Funded by the LGA, this service is available to local authorities at no cost and supports consistent, high-quality data use across systems
- utilise the resources available to derive efficiencies and insight from the data you didn’t know you had
Further resources
The LGA, GeoPlace and techUK have run a series of webinar on how best to utilise this data:
1. Derive efficiencies and insight from the data you didn’t know you had featuring a local authority chief executive and former council leader
2. Best kept secret: unlocking the hidden value of your data featuring a local authority realising a 6:1 ROI on the use of the data
3. Efficiency savings: How local authorities can achieve millions in efficiency savings from location data
