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 Newark and Sherwood District 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 Newark and Sherwood District Council

The latest council to release its Council Tax address list is Newark and Sherwood District Council in the East Midlands region of England.

This is another case with a somewhat convoluted history. In its initial response the Council withheld all of the requested information on the basis that it was personal data and exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act. That decision was overturned following an internal review and the Council disclosed most of the information.

However, the Council has continued to withhold the Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) corresponding to the properties on the Council Tax list. The Council has said that the UPRNs are "not held". I think that is unlikely, but as I cannot insist on a second internal review of the FOI handling I have not pressed that matter further.

There was also some back and forth in emails about permission for re-use of the disclosed information. I have understood from the resolution of that correspondence that the Council has granted permission for re-use of all of the disclosed information, for the purpose stated in my re-use request, "without restriction". The Council has said:

"With regards to your request, in accordance with regulation 6 of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, for permission to re-use all of the information provided for the purpose of combining the information with data from other public datasets and making the outputs available to others in a re-usable electronic form under an open licence. We grant permission for you to re-use this information for this purpose without restriction."

I understand that to mean that the Council has granted permission on more permissive terms than those in the Open Government Licence v3, i.e. without an attribution requirement or other conditions required by the OGL. However, as the stated purpose includes making outputs that contain the disclosed information available to others under an open licence, the re-user still has the option of publishing the information under the slightly more restrictive (but open) terms of the OGL.

You can download my correspondence with the Council: CT_address_list_Newark_Sherwood_RFI-2026-0422_[NO_DATA_correspondence_only].zip (1.23 MB).

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

Access to this dataset

I am not publishing Newark and Sherwood District 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 blog post from last month.

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 Newark and Sherwood District Council were submitted on 1 April 2026 and the Council's reference is RFI-2026-0422.

More about Newark and Sherwood District Council's address dataset

Newark and Sherwood has disclosed its Council Tax address dataset to me in the form of an Excel workbook 'RFI-2026-0422 -Full Property List 06.05.26.xlsx' that contains 59,687 records. Each record includes the full address (split into five fields), postcode, local property reference, and Council Tax valuation band, for a domestic property in the Newark and Sherwood District Council area.

The dataset appears to be well-maintained and the addresses are formatted consistently. Based on the file name the disclosed Council Tax list is as at 6 May 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

Southend-on-Sea City Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (18 June 2026)

North East Lincolnshire Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (17 June 2026)

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)