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 Central Bedfordshire 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 Central Bedfordshire Council

The latest council to release its Council Tax address list is Central Bedfordshire Council in the East of England.

This is another case that took a long time to complete. I submitted my requests in early December. In its initial response the Council disclosed most of the requested information, but withheld the Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) because they were not held against Council Tax records. I requested an internal review, which the Council did not complete until early this month. The Council has upheld its decision to withhold the UPRNs, on the more formal basis that the manual work required to append the UPRNs to the individual property records would exceed the cost limit in the FOI Act.

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

You can download my correspondence with the Council: CT_address_list_Central_Beds_10097842_[NO_DATA_correspondence_only].zip (0.9 MB).

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

Access to this dataset

I am not publishing Central Bedfordshire 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, the Council has published its original response to my request in its disclosure log. You may be able to access and download the data file via the SharePoint link from that response letter.

If that doesn't work, 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 Central Bedfordshire Council were submitted on 1 December 2025 and the Council's reference is 10097842.

More about Central Bedfordshire Council's address dataset

Central Bedfordshire Council has disclosed its Council Tax address dataset to me in the form of a CSV file 'FOI 10097842 - All CTax addresses with bands.csv' that contains 136,489 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 Central Bedfordshire Council area.

The dataset appears to be well-maintained. Based on the chronology of the correspondence the information was produced from Council systems in December 2025.

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

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)

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (28 May 2026)

Kirklees Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (27 May 2026)

Luton Council has released its Council Tax address list as open data (26 May 2026)

Open addresses: my submission to the Seventh UK National Action Plan for Open Government call for evidence (24 May 2026)

Reply to Ordnance Survey lawyers about Council Tax address datasets published as open data (22 May 2026)

Council Tax address datasets: progress update, next steps, and how to request missing datasets yourself (15 May 2026)