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 Great Yarmouth Borough 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 Great Yarmouth Borough Council

The latest council to release its Council Tax address list is Great Yarmouth Borough Council in the East of England.

In its initial response, the Council disclosed part of the requested information: a list of local property references with the corresponding Council Tax bands. However, the Council withheld the property addresses on the basis that they were exempt from disclosure because they were personal data. The Council also did not disclose the Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) corresponding to the properties on the Council Tax list.

Following an internal review, the Council disclosed an expanded version of the Council Tax list that included the property addresses. The Council has continued to withhold the UPRNs, on the basis that they are held in a different Council system and that it is therefore "open to interpretation" whether they are in scope of my access request.

The Council's position with regard to the UPRNs is dubious, but I have not pursued that matter further as I am being selective about the cases I refer to the ICO.

The Council has confirmed permission for re-use of the disclosed information under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.

You can download my correspondence with the Council: CT_address_list_Great_Yarmouth_FOI-2627-001_[NO_DATA_correspondence_only].zip (0.93 MB).

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

Access to this dataset

I am not publishing Great Yarmouth Borough 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 May.

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 Great Yarmouth Borough Council were submitted on 1 April 2026 and the Council's reference is FOI-2627-001.

More about Great Yarmouth Borough Council's address dataset

Great Yarmouth has disclosed its Council Tax address dataset to me in the form of an Excel file 'Council Tax full list 31.03.2026.xlsx' that contains 50,484 records. Each record includes the full address and postcode (combined in a single field), local property reference, and Council Tax valuation band, for a domestic property in the Great Yarmouth Borough Council area.

The dataset appears to be well-maintained. Based on the file name the information in the Council Tax list is as at 31 March 2026.

Please see the ReadMe file with the correspondence for information on attribution of the dataset.

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

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (6 July 2026)

Gwynedd Council (Cyngor Gwynedd) has released its Council Tax address list as open data (3 July 2026)

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (2 July 2026)

East Hertfordshire District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (1 July 2026)

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (26 June 2026)

Middlesbrough Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (25 June 2026)

Newark and Sherwood District Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (23 June 2026)

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)