Postcodes and mail delivery issue
Royal Mail assigns postcodes and postal towns under the Postal Services Act 2000. The council cannot control this process. Postcodes help Royal Mail deliver items quickly and accurately. Royal Mail assigns these after the council informs them of new or updated addresses.
Applicants should note that postal addresses are meant for Royal Mail delivery routes and may not accurately describe locations. Sometimes, they include names of villages or towns that are several miles away from the actual address.
The council cannot decide postcodes or postal towns; Royal Mail does this for its operations. However, the council will handle getting a postcode and postal town for applicants and will notify them and others involved. The council defines all other address details like building numbers, names, and street names.
Royal Mail won't publish addresses on its website if construction isn't complete, so newly allocated addresses might not show up right away. This can also affect other organisations using Royal Mail database, making it hard to validate these addresses. The council is not responsible for third parties, including Royal Mail, updating their address databases.
Getting a postal address does not confirm that a building has the required approvals like Planning or Building Regulations. Owners and occupiers could face enforcement action if they haven't obtained these approvals.
If you are experiencing problems with the delivery of your mail you should, in the first instance, contact Royal Mail Customer Services:
- email: addressdevelopment@royalmail.com
- telephone: 03456 011 110 and press option 3, then option 1 to speak to an advisor
- Address: Address Management Unit, Royal Mail, Admiral House, 2 Admiral Way, Doxford International Business Park, Sunderland SR3 3XW