Owen Boswarva's blog

This is the latest in a series of blog posts about the campaign for open address data in the UK. Previous posts are listed at the bottom.

In this post, I describe a new open address dataset released by North East Lincolnshire Council.

Background

As related in previous posts, I have recently been requesting Council Tax address datasets from a number of local authorities in England, and asking for permission to re-use the data under the terms of the Open Government Licence.

I have created a landing page on my Datadaptive site with download links and other information about the Council Tax address datasets released as open data so far:

www.datadaptive.com/addr/

Release from North East Lincolnshire Council

The latest council to release its Council Tax address list is North East Lincolnshire Council in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England.

In its initial response, the Council disclosed most of the requested information but without the Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) corresponding to the properties on the Council Tax list. Following an internal review, the Council explained that it was withholding the UPRNs on the following basis:

"We determine that as the GeoPlace / Ordnance Survey Unique Property Reference Number cannot be disclosed to you under your Freedom of Information request as the Council has not associated the UPRNs with our own Council Tax data in our Local Taxation and Benefits system, and the UPRNs are the property of GeoPlace and Ordnance Survey, and that disclosure would lead to a significant risk of copyright and/or database right infringement.

"Our view therefore is that the GeoPlace / Ordnance Survey Unique Property Reference Number would be exempt from disclosure by virtue of section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act, as the disclosure of this information would prejudice the commercial interests of both GeoPlace and Ordnance Survey.

"However, as the UPRNs are available to you via Ordnance Survey or its licensed partners, the information would be exempt from disclosure by virtue of section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act."

The above reasons do not seem plausible to me, but I have not pursued the UPRNs any further as I am being selective about the cases I refer to the ICO.

Following further emails, the Council has confirmed permission for re-use of the disclosed information under the terms of the Open Government Licence – with the exception of the postcodes. (Technically, the postcodes were outside the scope of my requests anyway. As the Council has supplied the postcodes in a separate field, it is simple enough to delete them prior to any re-use of the other information.)

You can download my correspondence with the Council: CT_address_list_NE_Lincolnshire_NELC-36216-2627_[NO_DATA_correspondence_only].zip (0.78 MB).

Thanks to Council staff for facilitating the disclosure and open licensing of this data.

Access to this dataset

I am not publishing North East Lincolnshire Council's address dataset here, due to the non-specific but lingering risk of further unsubstantiated claims of infringement from Ordnance Survey and GeoPlace LLP. You can read more about that issue in my recent blog post.

However, there is nothing to stop you asking the Council directly for a copy of the data file. For tips on submitting access to information and re-use requests see this other blog post. My requests to North East Lincolnshire Council were submitted on 15 April 2026 and the Council's reference is NELC/36216/2627.

More about North East Lincolnshire Council's address dataset

North East Lincolnshire has disclosed its Council Tax address dataset to me in the form of an Excel workbook 'NELC CTAX Report as at 20042026.csv.xlsx' that contains 76,634 records. Each record includes the full address (in five fields), postcode, local property reference, and Council Tax valuation band, for a domestic property in the North East Lincolnshire Council area.

The dataset appears to be well-maintained. Based on the file name the information in the list is as at 20 April 2026.

As the Council has not disclosed the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) corresponding to each property on the Council Tax list, the records cannot be geocoded at property level using open data sources.

Previous posts related to the campaign for open address data in the UK

Knowsley Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (16 June 2026)

Conwy County Borough Council (Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) has released its Council Tax address list as open data (15 June 2026)

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (12 June 2026)

Chichester District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (11 June 2026)

Enfield Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (10 June 2026)

Central Bedfordshire Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (5 June 2026)

Herefordshire Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (4 June 2026)

Test Valley Borough Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (3 June 2026)

Bassetlaw District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (2 June 2026)

Warwick District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (1 June 2026)

Horsham District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (29 May 2026)