GeoPlace has announced Surrey Heath Borough Council as the Winner of the 2026 Street Naming & Numbering Collaboration & Innovation Award. This award recognises the council’s collaborative work with Revenues and Benefits to improve the way new developments are identified, monitored and brought into taxation.
The Street Naming and Numbering Award celebrates outstanding work in the field over the past twelve months. It’s a service that plays a vital role in the creation of accurate, consistent and authoritative address data. As part of the larger remit, Street Naming and Numbering supports everything from building control and emergency response, to revenue collection, planning, customer communication and day-to-day service delivery.
This year’s winning entry from Surrey Heath Borough Council shows how Street Naming and Numbering can act as a powerful connector between services. The council’s SNN and Revenues & Benefits teams developed a collaborative, SNN-led data model to address long-standing issues where new developments were being missed for council tax and non-domestic rates, due to siloed systems, limited data sharing and a lack of integration with planning data.
However, by embedding Unique Property Reference Numbers at the earliest planning stage, and using a GIS-based solution to securely share live development information, the two teams have eliminated duplication, improved coordination and enabled earlier identification of new properties for taxation. This joined-up approach means Revenues can act sooner on planning approvals, monitor development progress alongside SNN, and bring properties into tax months earlier.
For Surrey Heath, the benefits have been both operational and financial. The council has improved its income accuracy, reduced the risk of missed revenue, strengthened data governance, and gained a more reliable, real-time view of development activity across services. Customers also benefit from a clearer, more coordinated communication journey – an excellent outcome, all round.
Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director of GeoPlace said:
“Surrey Heath’s work shows the power of Street Naming and Numbering when it is connected properly with the needs of the wider authority. By bringing SNN together with Revenues and Benefits, and embedding UPRNs from the earliest planning stage, the council has created a much clearer, and far more reliable view of development activity.
This is exactly the kind of practical innovation that delivers real value. It improves coordination, reduces duplication, strengthens data governance and helps ensure new properties are identified and brought into taxation sooner.
My congratulations go to Surrey Heath Borough Council, and also to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Sutton for their highly commended work. These projects show how SNN can move well beyond administration, becoming a powerful source of insight, confidence and better outcomes for communities.”