51.1 Introduction

One of the Agency’s principal objectives, contained in the business plan, is:

‘To provide ready access to up-to-date and error-free registers thereby ensuring that the public can have faith in the information that they contain.’

The quality, accuracy and sustained integrity of Agency data, and in this particular case persons and places data, is therefore a key target for the Agency.

It was decided that, in order to meet both evolving national address standards and to prepare for subsequent increased business development opportunities, the Agency should adopt the Post Office Address Point Gazetteer (the gazetteer) as the standard for all address data held on our systems. Whilst it is acknowledged that the gazetteer is still less than perfect, it has a high degree of consistency and is constantly being improved as a result of user feedback. In addition, it has the attraction of being the common format in use by many of our current and potential customers. At a time when the Agency is receiving an increased number of requests for various aspects of data, it is crucial that the information supplied is consistent, accurate and error free. Complete and reliable data is clearly a fundamental requirement to the ongoing commercial viability of the Agency.

To comply with all of the above, and also to maximise the efficiency of the searching functionality in the land register system (LRS), a degree of awareness of the manner in which persons and places data should appear in the LRS in the first instance, is obviously desirable. To this end, there follows advice and examples with regard to the current Agency Indexing Guidelines. The complete guide and explanation thereof can be found by clicking here.

51.2 Places

51.2.1 Post Towns

There can be some doubt as to what constitutes a ‘locality’ or ‘district’, or a town. In order to identify which field would be appropriate, the Royal Mail produce a list entitled ‘Placenames and their Post Towns’. This list contains hamlets, villages and towns in Scotland, and notes whether they are a ‘locality’ or ‘district’, or a post town.

• • If the locality/district/village referred to in the description is included on this list, this should be inserted in the ‘locality’ or ‘district’ field. The corresponding post town can then be input in the ‘town’ field.
     
  • If the ‘locality’ or ‘district’ within a city is not included on this list, as in particular areas within a city, such as ‘Partick, Glasgow’; ‘Springburn, Glasgow’ and ‘Morningside, Edinburgh’, no entry is required in the ‘locality’ or ‘district’ field.

The ‘Placenames and their Post Towns’ list can be found on the intranet. This list is updated on an annual basis.