Postcodes
A series of letters and numbers designated to an address for sorting mail
- Design stage
- Co-design
- Github
- Join the discussion
- Synonyms
- No synonyms added
- Legislation
- No legislation added
- Ordnance Survey declaration
- Unknown
- Expected number of records
- 1,700,000
- Frequency of updates
- Quarterly
- Useful links
- Technical specification
- No specification added
Background information
Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.
Backlog
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Who asked for 'Postcodes' data?
The Geospatial Commission has published a list of 65 open datasets that they believe are used during the housing and planning process. This includes Postcodes
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What is the driver for the request?
Other
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Which 2024 focus area does the request support?
- Other
Screen
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What is the 'Postcodes' consideration?
Postcodes is not the dataset name -> Code-Point Open Code-Point with Polygons
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Is there legislation that defines 'Postcodes'?
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Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Postcodes'?
Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail
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Which organisations do we think should publish the data?
- Ordnance Survey
- Royal Mail
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Is the Postcodes a trigger?
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Is the Postcodes something to consult during plan making?
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Is there any Postcodes data already available?
Yes
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What Postcodes data is currently available?
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Item 1
- name
- Code-Point with Polygons
- fields
- FID; Shape; POSTCODE; UPP; PC_AREA
- licence
- PSGA to Government. Need to consider what platform needs it for in more detail
- coverage
- GB
- publisher
- Ordnance Survey
- attribution
- © Crown copyright and database rights [Member inserts year] OS [Member inserts their licence number]
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Item 2
- name
- Code-Point OPEN
- fields
- postcode; PQI; Easting; Northing; Country Code; NHS regional health authority code; administrative county code; administrative district code; administrative ward code
- licence
- OGL version 3
- coverage
- GB
- publisher
- Ordnance Survey
- attribution
- Contains OS data © Crown copyright [and database right] [year].
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Item 3
- name
- Code-Point
- fields
- Postcode; Positional quality indicator (PQI); PO Box indicator; Total delivery points; Delivery points; Domestic delivery points; Non-domestic delivery; PO Box domestic delivery points; Matched addressed premises; Unmatched delivery points; Easting; Northing; Country code; NHS regional health authority code; NHS health authority code; Administrative county code; Administrative district code; Administrative ward code; Postcode type
- licence
- PSGA to Government. Need to consider what platform needs it for in more detail
- coverage
- GB
- publisher
- Ordnance Survey
- attribution
- © Crown copyright and database rights [Member inserts year] OS [Member inserts their licence number]
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Do we think the data should come from a single source?
Ordnance Survey
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Will a data standard be required?
No
Research
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Do we understand the lifecycle of a Postcodes?
No
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Do we understand how the data is created/produced?
N/A
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Where will or should the data be used?
N/A
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What other planning considerations does it interact with?
N/A
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Who are the statutory consultees for Postcodes?
N/A
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Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of Postcodes? How do we expect them to use Postcodes?
N/A
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What are the planning needs for this data?
Planning need is unclear
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Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to Postcodes data?
- service builders
- proptech companies
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What are some potential uses of Postcodes data?
Searching for an area
Most people know their post code and use it to refer to or specify a geographic area.
It is usually the first thing people use to narrow down an area they are concerned with.
Statistics
Post codes can be used to group data together for research and statistical analysis.
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What's the value of adding Postcodes data to the platform?
Making postcodes available through the platform means service builders can use them in their services. This would help their users because it is common for people to know and use post codes to find or refer to an area.
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From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Postcodes data available?
N/A
2 updates
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Paul Downey (26 June 2025)
Planning need is around finding data in an area and locating and centring maps
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Claire Miller (28 June 2024)
Planning need is unclear
Last updated: 2025-06-27 08:55:34