Street Naming and Numbering (SNN) is a statutory function that underpins critical national infrastructure, from emergency response and postal services to utilities and digital systems. Despite its importance, the profession often operates in isolation, with varying local policies and legislation that has not kept pace with modern addressing needs.
The SNN community is highly skilled, engaged, and committed, yet many officers report feeling siloed, with limited opportunities to share knowledge, align approaches, or influence change at a national level.
In response to these shared challenges, the need for a more connected, consistent and influential landscape was identified. To address this the SNN community is working, together with the support of GeoPlace, to explore the creation of a SNN Association.
The ambition is to bring the community together, strengthen the profession, and establish a clear, collective voice.
It will also help bring the wider SNN community, including developers, building control, planning teams and others, closer to the function. This will strengthen shared understanding, improve collaboration, and build greater cohesion, helping to streamline processes, enhance data quality, and improve ways of working across the board.
The SNN Association will:
- be community-led and independent; governed and shaped by the SNN community.
- support the SNN profession; such as CPD opportunities, training, forums, additional events/workshops, newsletters and shared learning.
- improve consistency; aligning practice and policy across councils to strengthen national address data.
- a stronger collective voice; raise the profile of SNN and engage policymakers to influence outdated legislation.
- be prepared for change; supporting coordinated responses to developments such as Local Government Reorganisation.
The project is currently in the shaping phase, working closely with the community to develop an early framework and define the Association’s direction.
The first public sharing of the emerging direction of the SNN Association will be at the GeoPlace Conference that will take place on the 21st of May 2026 at Leicester Tigers.
This will be an opportunity to shape the future direction of the Association, register your interest in becoming a founding member and a member of the Association board.
The direction of the Association is not fixed. It will be shaped by the community over time, and this is the point to get involved, influence its future, and be a founding member of something that represents SNN at a national level.
