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Postal counties of the United Kingdom

The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known as former postal counties,[1] were postal subdivisions in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996.[2] The purpose of the postal county – as opposed to any other kind of county – was to aid the sorting of mail by differentiating between like-sounding post towns. Since 1996 this has been done by using the outward code (first half) of the postcode instead. For operational reasons the former postal counties, although broadly based on the counties of the United Kingdom, did not match up with their boundaries: in some cases there were significant differences. The boundaries changed over time as post towns were created or amended.

Postal county
  • Also known as:
  • Former postal county
CategoryPostal geography
LocationUnited Kingdom
Created
  • Major revision 1974
Abolished
  • 1996
Number116 (as of 1996)
Possible types
  • England (48)
  • Northern Ireland (6)
  • Scotland (54)
  • Wales (8)
Subdivisions

According to the Royal Mail, the former postal county data no longer forms part of postal addresses. It was removed from the Postcode Address File database in 2000 and does not form part of its code of practice for changing addresses.[3] Despite this, county data is routinely sold to companies, ostensibly to let them cleanse their own address data. As the former postal county data was the last to be in routine use, some organisations have continued to use this obsolete data as part of postal addresses. In 2009 the Royal Mail code of practice consultation included discussion of the possible replacement of the currently supplied 'alias data' with an up-to-date county information data field.[4] In 2010 the regulator advised Royal Mail to cease supply of county data altogether[5] and a timetable was put in place for this to occur between 2013 and 2016.[6]

Differences Edit

Counties were used in postal addresses from the earliest days of the Post Office, but over time the postal counties of many places did not match geographic counties or counties used for administrative purposes. There were several reasons for this:

Places part of a post town in another county Edit

First, many of the approximately 1,500 post towns straddled county boundaries, and the postal addresses of all places in such areas included the postal county of the post town, regardless of their actual location. In a written answer in the House of Lords in 1963, Lord Chesham, Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Transport estimated that about 7% of towns and villages with a post office lay in a postal county different from their geographical county. He went to explain that:

Postal addresses are in effect routing instructions for Post Office sorters and, in settling what they should be, the main concern is to ensure a quick and efficient service at reasonable cost. The general aim is to align postal boundaries with those of the counties and where this has not been done it is usually because road and rail communications are such that mail can be got more quickly and efficiently to and from certain villages, et cetera, via a neighbouring county than via the county in which they are situated. Alignment of postal and county boundaries in these instances would mean either a poorer postal service for the villages, et cetera, in question or prohibitively heavy additional costs.

— John Cavendish, 5th Baron Chesham, Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Transport written answer to Parliamentary question[7]

Examples, usually consisting of small villages near to county boundaries, included:

Geographic locality Geographic county Post town Former postal county
Chenies Buckinghamshire RICKMANSWORTH Hertfordshire
Chirbury Shropshire (England) MONTGOMERY Powys (Wales)
Hinwick and Podington Bedfordshire WELLINGBOROUGH Northamptonshire
Melbourn[8] Cambridgeshire ROYSTON Hertfordshire
Pitstone Buckinghamshire LEIGHTON BUZZARD Bedfordshire
Shirebrook Derbyshire MANSFIELD Nottinghamshire
Tatsfield Surrey WESTERHAM Kent
Ugley and Molehill Green Essex BISHOP'S STORTFORD Hertfordshire
Woodcote and Sonning Common Oxfordshire READING Berkshire[notes 1]

There were additional examples resulting from the 1974 reorganisation of local government:

Geographic locality Ceremonial county Post town Former postal county
Birtley Tyne and Wear CHESTER LE STREET County Durham
Coleshill and Water Orton Warwickshire BIRMINGHAM West Midlands[notes 1]
Seaton Delaval[9] Northumberland WHITLEY BAY Tyne and Wear[notes 2]
Sedgefield County Durham STOCKTON-ON-TEES Cleveland
Stokesley and Great Ayton North Yorkshire MIDDLESBROUGH Cleveland

The postal counties were subject to change over time as post towns near to county boundaries were amended. For example, Chinley in Derbyshire had a postal address of "Stockport, Cheshire"[10] which was later updated to "High Peak, Derbyshire" when a new post town was created.

London Edit

 
London postal district shown (in red) against the Greater London boundary
 
Middlesex former postal county

Second, the London postal district, which formed a special post town, did not conform to any administrative boundaries. The postal district was created in 1858 and has periodically been revised. However, at no point has its boundary coincided with either the metropolis (later County of London) of 1855–1965, which was somewhat smaller, or the Greater London area created in 1965, which was much bigger. Addresses in the London post town, an area of 241 square miles (620 km2)[11] (or 40% of Greater London), did not include a county; however, the rest of Greater London (60% of its area) formed parts of other post towns in the postal counties of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Hertfordshire. For example, Wembley Stadium had a postal address of Wembley, Middlesex rather than London. Some London boroughs were split between multiple postal counties: for example Barnet had sections in the London postal district (e.g. Golders Green) and in the Middlesex and Hertfordshire postal counties (e.g. Edgware and East Barnet); with the NW7 postcode district touching the Greater London boundary to divide the three sections. Sewardstone, in the Epping Forest district of Essex, is the only locality outside Greater London to be included in the London postal district (E4).

Changes to administrative county boundaries Edit

Third, the Royal Mail adopted some, but not all, of the local government reforms of 1965 and 1974/5. This caused postal counties in some areas to reflect boundary changes, while in other areas they did not. Although the Post Office did not follow the changes of the London Government Act 1963 with respect to the outer London suburbs, it did reflect the move of Potters Bar from Middlesex to Hertfordshire. In contrast, Middlesex remained part of the postal address for Staines, Sunbury and Ashford, which had transferred to Surrey. The 1960s saw an increase in the number of addresses the Post Office delivered to, but a decrease in the volume of mail sent, which caused a significant drop in revenue and a proportionate increase in operational costs.[12] Furthermore, retaining the existing postal county boundaries was explained as largely due to cost reasons. The Times pointed out that this might cause confusion, noting that in future "children will no doubt wonder why their address should refer to a county in which they have never lived", but that "some people […] want the name of Middlesex preserved because of its historical associations".[13]

The Local Government Act 1972 redrew the administrative county map of England and Wales outside Greater London. The Post Office was considering its policy in January 1973,[14] and in November 1973 noted that "Greater Manchester" would be unlikely to be adopted because of confusion of the Manchester post town, but that Avon was likely to be introduced.[15] When the local government changes came into force, the Post Office announced that the new counties would form part of postal addresses from 1 July 1974, and should be used as "soon as possible". Old counties could, however, still be used until 1 July 1975. It was stated that the rule applied to: "...addresses throughout England and Wales outside Greater London with the exception of Greater Manchester and Hereford and Worcester where addresses remain unchanged. In Humberside it is necessary to show whether an address is in North Humberside or South Humberside. Addresses in certain post-towns have not, in the past, included a county name; these addresses are unchanged, but the postcode should be shown. Addresses in Greater London are also unchanged as are addresses in any place where the new county bears the same name as the former one."[16] The postal counties listed in 1961 that did not continue after the reforms were Cumberland, Rutland, Sussex, Westmorland and Yorkshire.[10]

In Scotland, counties were entirely abolished for local government purposes in May 1975. The matter of postal counties was raised in the House of Lords in April 1975. Lord Beswick, Minister of State at the Department of Industry, stated that "the Post Office is consulting its customers in Scotland about the possible use of new postal addresses for Scotland based on the new local government Regions and Island Areas".[17] In the event, the postal counties were not changed. Thus Alva, despite being in the Central Region after 1975, was still postally in Clackmannanshire. Gordon Oakes, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment, explained the policy in a written answer to a question in parliament, shortly after the changes were brought in:[18]

Postal addresses are routing instructions, not geographical descriptions, and the extent to which the new county names are being adopted for mail has been the subject of advice issued by the Post Office.

Special post towns Edit

The postal county was omitted for addresses within 110 post towns. These were mainly either larger towns and cities or places where the county name was derived from the post town. These post towns were:

  • ABERDEEN
  • ABOYNE
  • ANTRIM
  • ARMAGH
  • AYR
  • BANFF
  • BATH
  • BEDFORD
  • BELFAST
  • BERWICK-UPON-TWEED
  • BIRMINGHAM
  • BLACKBURN
  • BLACKPOOL
  • BOLTON
  • BOURNEMOUTH
  • BRIGHTON
  • BRISTOL
  • BROMLEY
  • BUCKINGHAM
  • BUSHEY
  • CAMBRIDGE
  • CARDIFF
  • CARLISLE
  • CHELMSFORD
  • CHESTER
  • CLACKMANNAN
  • COLCHESTER
  • COVENTRY
  • CREWE
  • CROYDON
  • DARTFORD
  • DERBY
  • DUMBARTON
  • DUMFRIES
  • DUNDEE
  • DURHAM
  • EDINBURGH
  • ELLESMERE PORT
  • EXETER
  • FALKIRK
  • GLASGOW
  • GLOUCESTER
  • GUERNSEY
  • HEREFORD
  • HERTFORD
  • HOUNSLOW
  • HUDDERSFIELD
  • HULL
  • INVERNESS
  • IPSWICH
  • ISLE OF MAN
  • ISLES OF SCILLY
  • JERSEY
  • KINROSS
  • KIRKCUDBRIGHT
  • LANARK
  • LANCASTER
  • LEEDS
  • LEICESTER
  • LINCOLN
  • LIVERPOOL
  • LONDON
  • LONDONDERRY
  • LUTON
  • MANCHESTER
  • MILTON KEYNES
  • NAIRN
  • NESTON
  • NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
  • NORTHAMPTON
  • NORWICH
  • NOTTINGHAM
  • OLDHAM
  • ORKNEY
  • OXFORD
  • PEEBLES
  • PERTH
  • PETERBOROUGH
  • PLYMOUTH
  • PORTSMOUTH
  • PRESTON
  • READING
  • REDHILL
  • RENFREW
  • ROMFORD
  • SALFORD
  • SALISBURY
  • SELKIRK
  • SHEFFIELD
  • SHETLAND
  • SHREWSBURY
  • SLOUGH
  • SOUTHAMPTON
  • SOUTHEND-ON-SEA
  • STAFFORD
  • STIRLING
  • STOKE-ON-TRENT
  • STRATHDON
  • SUNDERLAND
  • SWANSEA
  • SWINDON
  • TORQUAY
  • TWICKENHAM
  • WALSALL
  • WARRINGTON
  • WARWICK
  • WATFORD
  • WOLVERHAMPTON
  • WORCESTER
  • YORK

The towns of BRECON, CAERNARVON, CARDIGAN, CARMARTHEN, DENBIGH, FLINT, HUNTINGDON, MONMOUTH, MONTGOMERY and PEMBROKE also qualified as special post towns until 1974 as the name of the county was derived from the town. Following the Local Government Act 1972, addresses in these towns required the new postal county.

Postal counties in operation from 1974 to 1996 Edit

listed with official abbreviations, if any

England Edit

Postal counties broadly matched the county boundaries established in 1974, unless noted otherwise under "geographic coverage".

Former postal county Abbreviation[19] Geographic coverage Map
ref
Avon 1
Bedfordshire Beds 2
Berkshire Berks 3
Buckinghamshire Bucks 4
Cambridgeshire Cambs 5
Cheshire Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; also extended into Greater Manchester 6
Cleveland 7
Cornwall 8
County Durham Co Durham 9
Cumbria Also extended into Northumberland and Dumfries & Galloway 10
Derbyshire 11
Devon 12
Dorset 13
East Sussex E Sussex 14
Essex Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; also extended into Greater London;[20] Stansted post town (CM24 postcode) is an exclave of the Essex postal county wholly within the Hertfordshire postal county 15
Gloucestershire Glos 16
Hampshire Hants 17
Herefordshire Covered part of Hereford and Worcester; also extended into Powys. 18
Hertfordshire Herts Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; also extended into Greater London[20] 19
Isle of Wight 20
Kent Also extended into Greater London[20] 21
Lancashire Lancs Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; also extended into Cumbria, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire 22
Leicestershire Leics 23
Lincolnshire Lincs 24
London Not a postal county, but the London postal district corresponded to the London post town[20] 25
Merseyside 26
Middlesex Middx Covered parts of Greater London and Surrey; Enfield post town was an exclave, separated from the rest by the London postal district and Hertfordshire[20] 27
Norfolk 28
North Humberside N Humberside Covered part of Humberside 29
North Yorkshire N Yorkshire 30
Northamptonshire Northants 31
Northumberland Northd Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; consisted of two unconnected areas divided by Tyne & Wear (NE19 postcode) 32
Nottinghamshire Notts 33
Oxfordshire Oxon 34
Shropshire Salop 35
Somerset 36
South Humberside S Humberside Covered part of Humberside 37
South Yorkshire S Yorkshire 38
Staffordshire Staffs 39
Suffolk 40
Surrey Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; also extended into Greater London[20] and did not include Spelthorne (included in Middlesex) 41
Tyne and Wear Tyne & Wear Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; long salient into Northumberland all the way to the Scottish border (NE19 postcode) 42
Warwickshire Warks Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; consisted of two unconnected areas divided by West Midlands (i.e. the easterly salient of the Coventry post town) 43
West Midlands W Midlands Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974; extended into Warwickshire all the way to the Leicestershire border (CV7 postcode) 44
West Sussex W Sussex 45
West Yorkshire W Yorkshire 46
Wiltshire Wilts 47
Worcestershire Worcs Covered part of Hereford and Worcester 48

Scotland Edit

The postal counties of Scotland broadly followed the boundaries of the civil counties on the mainland. Offshore islands, however, were regarded as distinct counties for postal purposes. There was no postal county of Buteshire, which was instead divided between the Isles of Arran, Bute and Cumbrae.

Former postal county Geographic coverage Map
ref
Aberdeenshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county, plus the former 1890-1975 counties of Banffshire and Kincardineshire; and less Aberdeen post town 49
Angus Approximated to 1890–1975 county less areas in Dundee post town 50
Argyll Approximated to 1890–1975 county less islands 51
Ayrshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 52
Banffshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 53
Berwickshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 54
Caithness Approximated to 1890–1975 county 55
Clackmannanshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 56
Dumfriesshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 57
Dunbartonshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county, comprising two separate areas 58
East Lothian Approximated to 1890–1975 county 59
Fife Approximated to 1890–1975 county 60
Inverness-shire Approximated to 1890–1975 county less islands 61
Isle of Arran 62
Isle of Barra 63
Isle of Benbecula 64
Isle of Bute 65
Isle of Canna 66
Isle of Coll 67
Isle of Colonsay 68
Isle of Cumbrae 69
Isle of Eigg 70
Isle of Gigha 71
Isle of Harris 72
Isle of Iona 73
Isle of Islay 74
Isle of Jura 75
Former postal county Geographic coverage Map
ref
Isle of Lewis 76
Isle of Mull 77
Isle of North Uist 78
Isle of Rum 79
Isle of Scalpay 80
Isle of Skye 81
Isle of South Uist 82
Isle of Tiree 83
Kincardineshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 84
Kinross-shire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 85
Kirkcudbrightshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 86
Lanarkshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county less areas in Glasgow post town 87
Midlothian Approximated to 1890–1975 county less Edinburgh post town 88
Morayshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county less areas now in Aberdeenshire 89
Nairnshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 90
Orkney Covered 1890–1975 county and modern islands area 91
Peeblesshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 92
Perthshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county less areas in Dundee post town and Dunblane, Doune, Callendar, Trossachs, Loch Earn, Killin, Crianlarich & Tyndrum areas now in Stirlingshire 93
Renfrewshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 94
Ross-shire Approximated to 1890–1975 county of Ross and Cromarty less islands 95
Roxburghshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 96
Selkirkshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 97
Shetland Covered 1890–1975 county of Zetland and modern islands area of Shetland 98
Stirlingshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county; plus Dunblane, Doune, Callendar, Trossachs, Lopch Earn, Killin, Crianlarich and Tyndrum areas now in Strlingshire 99
Sutherland Approximated to 1890–1975 county 100
West Lothian Approximated to 1890–1975 county less Queensferry, Dalmeny, Ratho and Kirkliston areas now in the City of Edinburgh 101
Wigtownshire Approximated to 1890–1975 county 102

Wales Edit

Former postal county Abbreviation[19] Geographic coverage Map
ref
Clwyd Broadly matched the 1974–1996 counties 103
Dyfed 104
Gwent 105
Gwynedd 106
Mid Glamorgan M Glam 107
South Glamorgan S Glam 108
Powys 109
West Glamorgan W Glam 110

Northern Ireland Edit

Former postal county Abbreviation[19] Map
ref
County Antrim Co Antrim 111
County Armagh Co Armagh 112
County Down Co Down 113
County Fermanagh Co Fermanagh 114
County Londonderry Co Londonderry 115
County Tyrone Co Tyrone 116

Normally, counties in Northern Ireland are named with the word 'County', and not simply the county name, perhaps to avoid confusion with the towns of the same name.

After 1996 Edit

Postcode defined circulation Edit

The Royal Mail ceased to use postal counties as a means of sorting mail following the modernisation of their optical character recognition equipment in 1996. Instead, using postcode defined circulation, the outward code (first half) of the postcode is used to differentiate between like-sounding post towns. In 2000 the postal county data was removed from the Postcode Address File database and was added to the Alias File, which is used to cleanse data of local, colloquial and "postally-not-required" details that have been added to addresses. According to Royal Mail policy the field is not updated and where new post towns are created they will not be assigned to a former postal county. In guidance to customers it is required that the correct post town and postcode must be included in addresses and a county is not required.[21] As part of a "flexible addressing policy" customers can add a county, which will be ignored in the sorting process.

1990s local government reform Edit

During the 1990s a reform of local government in England caused further changes to the locations in which the former postal counties did not match up to the geographic counties. Avon, Cleveland and Humberside were abolished as geographic counties and Rutland was reconstituted. This had the following effects on the relationship between the geographic and postal counties:

Former postal county Coverage
Avon Bristol, Somerset (part), Gloucestershire (part)
Cleveland County Durham (part), North Yorkshire (part)
North Humberside East Riding of Yorkshire
South Humberside Lincolnshire (part)
Leicestershire (part) Rutland

Hereford and Worcester was abolished and reconstituted as two separate counties once more, broadly matching the former postal counties. Greater London and Greater Manchester remained unaffected by the reform. Local government was also reorganised in 1996 in both Scotland (Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994) and Wales (Local Government (Wales) Act 1994), such that in some places counties reverted to the historic names once again (e.g. Pembrokeshire),[2] but in others the post-1974 names were retained (e.g. Powys and Gwynedd). As the Royal Mail had also declared postal counties redundant in 1996, the former postal county data was not updated to reflect these changes.

Extended usage Edit

Despite Royal Mail stipulating that counties no longer form part of addresses, many organisations have continued routinely to include them as part of postal addressing, often simply combining Postcode Address File data with the data from the Alias File. Some organisations using software which requires a county to be included as part of a postal address have extended the use of counties to addresses in special post towns, which never needed them.

This continued use has caused customers in areas where there is discrepancy between the postal and geographic counties to complain to Royal Mail. Until 2007 the Royal Mail position was that under their current code of practice, changes to county data will not be considered.[3][21] However, after a lengthy and well-organised campaign,[22] the Royal Mail agreed to create a postal county of Rutland in 2007. This was achieved in January 2008 by amending the former postal county for all of the Oakham (LE15) post town and part of the Market Harborough (LE16) post town.[23] In contrast, Seaton Delaval residents had unsuccessfully campaigned in 2004 to be removed from the former postal county of Tyne and Wear.[9]

In 2009 the Royal Mail code of practice came up for renewal, and the regulator Postcomm held a public consultation on its future. Consultation guidance from the regulator indicated that although the former postal county data is obsolete, it was the last available data set to be in routine use and was therefore the most likely to be used by corporate customers for their address databases.[4] It was also recognised that residential customers in some areas were not happy with this situation. The Royal Mail reconfirmed its preference for eliminating counties altogether from addressing, but also invited comments on providing a new and updated county data field, reflecting boundary changes. Postcomm found that many respondents objected to the use of obsolete counties. In May 2010 Postcomm decided to advise Royal Mail to "discontinue provision of such information at the earliest opportunity". However, because some existing software included the use of counties, Royal Mail was advised not to implement the change before 2013.[5] The timetable announced by Royal Mail in July 2010 indicated that this was likely to happen between 2013 and 2016.[6]

In 2013 Felicity MacFarlane stated the Royal Mail position:[24]

As we have stressed for a number of years, Royal Mail's Postcode Address File does not contain county names as they are not required for postal purposes. However, we do make a list of historical county names available to customers to reference if they wish though we don't encourage external organisations to use or rely on the county information.

Between November and December 2013 a further consultation on the issue was conducted by the PAF Advisory Board that sought opinions on removing some or all of the county data from the Alias File[25] and the results were published in January 2014.[26]

Notes Edit

  1. ^ a b Because the post town was a special post town, the postal county was not required.
  2. ^ The postal county was Northumberland before 1974.

References Edit

  1. ^ Royal Mail Programmers' Guide, Edition 7, version 5.0, Royal Mail Group Ltd, 2009, p.65
  2. ^ a b "Pembrokeshire (Royal Mail Database) c218WH". Hansard. 23 June 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  3. ^ a b Royal Mail, Postcode Address File Code of Practice[permanent dead link], (2004)
  4. ^ a b Postcomm, Review of Royal Mail's Postcode Address File Code of Practice Consultation 3 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 28 May 2009
  5. ^ a b (PDF). Postal Services Commission (Postcomm). May 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b Hope, Christopher (31 July 2010). "Counties to be axed from postal addresses". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  7. ^ "Alignment of postal and county boundaries (HL Deb 15 July 1963 vol 252 c108WA)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 15 July 1963. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  8. ^ Residents in postcode row 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 27 June 2002
  9. ^ a b "Villagers address their concerns". BBC News. 30 October 2004.
  10. ^ a b General Post Office (October 1961). Postal Addresses. HMSO.
  11. ^ HMSO, The Inner London Letter Post, (1980)
  12. ^ Corby, M., The postal business, 1969–79, (1979)
  13. ^ "G.P.O. To Keep Old Names. London Changes Too Costly". The Times. 12 April 1966.
  14. ^ "Changes in local government units may cause some famous names to disappear". The Times. 2 January 1973.
  15. ^ "Post Office will ignore some new counties over addresses". The Times. 26 November 1973.
  16. ^ "Local Government Reorganisation and Postal Addresses". Local Government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. HMSO. 1974. p. 185. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
  17. ^ "Argyll: Postal Address". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 9 April 1975. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  18. ^ House of Commons Hansard, Written Answers, 4 July 1974, col.278
  19. ^ a b c Royal Mail, PAF Digest Issue 6.0[permanent dead link]
  20. ^ a b c d e f Geographers' A-Z Map Company (2008). London Postcode and Administrative Boundaries (6 ed.). Geographers' A-Z Map Company. ISBN 978-1-84348-592-6.
  21. ^ a b Royal Mail, Address Management Guide, (2004)
  22. ^ MP wins seven-year postal address battle 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Stamford Mercury, 5 November 2007.
  23. ^ AFD Software, Latest PAF data news
  24. ^ "MP launches Humberside mail protest sticker campaign". BBC News. 22 November 2013.
  25. ^ (PDF). PAF Advisory Board. 4 November 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  26. ^ (PDF). PAF Advisory Board. 13 January 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2014.

External links Edit

    postal, counties, united, kingdom, postal, counties, united, kingdom, known, former, postal, counties, were, postal, subdivisions, routine, royal, mail, until, 1996, purpose, postal, county, opposed, other, kind, county, sorting, mail, differentiating, between. The postal counties of the United Kingdom now known as former postal counties 1 were postal subdivisions in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996 2 The purpose of the postal county as opposed to any other kind of county was to aid the sorting of mail by differentiating between like sounding post towns Since 1996 this has been done by using the outward code first half of the postcode instead For operational reasons the former postal counties although broadly based on the counties of the United Kingdom did not match up with their boundaries in some cases there were significant differences The boundaries changed over time as post towns were created or amended Postal countyAlso known as Former postal countyCategoryPostal geographyLocationUnited KingdomCreatedMajor revision 1974Abolished1996Number116 as of 1996 Possible typesEngland 48 Northern Ireland 6 Scotland 54 Wales 8 SubdivisionsPost townAccording to the Royal Mail the former postal county data no longer forms part of postal addresses It was removed from the Postcode Address File database in 2000 and does not form part of its code of practice for changing addresses 3 Despite this county data is routinely sold to companies ostensibly to let them cleanse their own address data As the former postal county data was the last to be in routine use some organisations have continued to use this obsolete data as part of postal addresses In 2009 the Royal Mail code of practice consultation included discussion of the possible replacement of the currently supplied alias data with an up to date county information data field 4 In 2010 the regulator advised Royal Mail to cease supply of county data altogether 5 and a timetable was put in place for this to occur between 2013 and 2016 6 Contents 1 Differences 1 1 Places part of a post town in another county 1 2 London 1 3 Changes to administrative county boundaries 1 4 Special post towns 2 Postal counties in operation from 1974 to 1996 2 1 England 2 2 Scotland 2 3 Wales 2 4 Northern Ireland 3 After 1996 3 1 Postcode defined circulation 3 2 1990s local government reform 3 3 Extended usage 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksDifferences EditCounties were used in postal addresses from the earliest days of the Post Office but over time the postal counties of many places did not match geographic counties or counties used for administrative purposes There were several reasons for this Places part of a post town in another county Edit First many of the approximately 1 500 post towns straddled county boundaries and the postal addresses of all places in such areas included the postal county of the post town regardless of their actual location In a written answer in the House of Lords in 1963 Lord Chesham Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Transport estimated that about 7 of towns and villages with a post office lay in a postal county different from their geographical county He went to explain that Postal addresses are in effect routing instructions for Post Office sorters and in settling what they should be the main concern is to ensure a quick and efficient service at reasonable cost The general aim is to align postal boundaries with those of the counties and where this has not been done it is usually because road and rail communications are such that mail can be got more quickly and efficiently to and from certain villages et cetera via a neighbouring county than via the county in which they are situated Alignment of postal and county boundaries in these instances would mean either a poorer postal service for the villages et cetera in question or prohibitively heavy additional costs John Cavendish 5th Baron Chesham Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Transport written answer to Parliamentary question 7 Examples usually consisting of small villages near to county boundaries included Geographic locality Geographic county Post town Former postal countyChenies Buckinghamshire RICKMANSWORTH HertfordshireChirbury Shropshire England MONTGOMERY Powys Wales Hinwick and Podington Bedfordshire WELLINGBOROUGH NorthamptonshireMelbourn 8 Cambridgeshire ROYSTON HertfordshirePitstone Buckinghamshire LEIGHTON BUZZARD BedfordshireShirebrook Derbyshire MANSFIELD NottinghamshireTatsfield Surrey WESTERHAM KentUgley and Molehill Green Essex BISHOP S STORTFORD HertfordshireWoodcote and Sonning Common Oxfordshire READING Berkshire notes 1 There were additional examples resulting from the 1974 reorganisation of local government Geographic locality Ceremonial county Post town Former postal countyBirtley Tyne and Wear CHESTER LE STREET County DurhamColeshill and Water Orton Warwickshire BIRMINGHAM West Midlands notes 1 Seaton Delaval 9 Northumberland WHITLEY BAY Tyne and Wear notes 2 Sedgefield County Durham STOCKTON ON TEES ClevelandStokesley and Great Ayton North Yorkshire MIDDLESBROUGH ClevelandThe postal counties were subject to change over time as post towns near to county boundaries were amended For example Chinley in Derbyshire had a postal address of Stockport Cheshire 10 which was later updated to High Peak Derbyshire when a new post town was created London Edit nbsp London postal district shown in red against the Greater London boundary nbsp Middlesex former postal countySecond the London postal district which formed a special post town did not conform to any administrative boundaries The postal district was created in 1858 and has periodically been revised However at no point has its boundary coincided with either the metropolis later County of London of 1855 1965 which was somewhat smaller or the Greater London area created in 1965 which was much bigger Addresses in the London post town an area of 241 square miles 620 km2 11 or 40 of Greater London did not include a county however the rest of Greater London 60 of its area formed parts of other post towns in the postal counties of Surrey Kent Essex Middlesex and Hertfordshire For example Wembley Stadium had a postal address of Wembley Middlesex rather than London Some London boroughs were split between multiple postal counties for example Barnet had sections in the London postal district e g Golders Green and in the Middlesex and Hertfordshire postal counties e g Edgware and East Barnet with the NW7 postcode district touching the Greater London boundary to divide the three sections Sewardstone in the Epping Forest district of Essex is the only locality outside Greater London to be included in the London postal district E4 Changes to administrative county boundaries Edit Third the Royal Mail adopted some but not all of the local government reforms of 1965 and 1974 5 This caused postal counties in some areas to reflect boundary changes while in other areas they did not Although the Post Office did not follow the changes of the London Government Act 1963 with respect to the outer London suburbs it did reflect the move of Potters Bar from Middlesex to Hertfordshire In contrast Middlesex remained part of the postal address for Staines Sunbury and Ashford which had transferred to Surrey The 1960s saw an increase in the number of addresses the Post Office delivered to but a decrease in the volume of mail sent which caused a significant drop in revenue and a proportionate increase in operational costs 12 Furthermore retaining the existing postal county boundaries was explained as largely due to cost reasons The Times pointed out that this might cause confusion noting that in future children will no doubt wonder why their address should refer to a county in which they have never lived but that some people want the name of Middlesex preserved because of its historical associations 13 The Local Government Act 1972 redrew the administrative county map of England and Wales outside Greater London The Post Office was considering its policy in January 1973 14 and in November 1973 noted that Greater Manchester would be unlikely to be adopted because of confusion of the Manchester post town but that Avon was likely to be introduced 15 When the local government changes came into force the Post Office announced that the new counties would form part of postal addresses from 1 July 1974 and should be used as soon as possible Old counties could however still be used until 1 July 1975 It was stated that the rule applied to addresses throughout England and Wales outside Greater London with the exception of Greater Manchester and Hereford and Worcester where addresses remain unchanged In Humberside it is necessary to show whether an address is in North Humberside or South Humberside Addresses in certain post towns have not in the past included a county name these addresses are unchanged but the postcode should be shown Addresses in Greater London are also unchanged as are addresses in any place where the new county bears the same name as the former one 16 The postal counties listed in 1961 that did not continue after the reforms were Cumberland Rutland Sussex Westmorland and Yorkshire 10 In Scotland counties were entirely abolished for local government purposes in May 1975 The matter of postal counties was raised in the House of Lords in April 1975 Lord Beswick Minister of State at the Department of Industry stated that the Post Office is consulting its customers in Scotland about the possible use of new postal addresses for Scotland based on the new local government Regions and Island Areas 17 In the event the postal counties were not changed Thus Alva despite being in the Central Region after 1975 was still postally in Clackmannanshire Gordon Oakes Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment explained the policy in a written answer to a question in parliament shortly after the changes were brought in 18 Postal addresses are routing instructions not geographical descriptions and the extent to which the new county names are being adopted for mail has been the subject of advice issued by the Post Office Special post towns Edit The postal county was omitted for addresses within 110 post towns These were mainly either larger towns and cities or places where the county name was derived from the post town These post towns were ABERDEEN ABOYNE ANTRIM ARMAGH AYR BANFF BATH BEDFORD BELFAST BERWICK UPON TWEED BIRMINGHAM BLACKBURN BLACKPOOL BOLTON BOURNEMOUTH BRIGHTON BRISTOL BROMLEY BUCKINGHAM BUSHEY CAMBRIDGE CARDIFF CARLISLE CHELMSFORD CHESTER CLACKMANNAN COLCHESTER COVENTRY CREWE CROYDON DARTFORD DERBY DUMBARTON DUMFRIES DUNDEE DURHAM EDINBURGH ELLESMERE PORT EXETER FALKIRK GLASGOW GLOUCESTER GUERNSEY HEREFORD HERTFORD HOUNSLOW HUDDERSFIELD HULL INVERNESS IPSWICH ISLE OF MAN ISLES OF SCILLY JERSEY KINROSS KIRKCUDBRIGHT LANARK LANCASTER LEEDS LEICESTER LINCOLN LIVERPOOL LONDON LONDONDERRY LUTON MANCHESTER MILTON KEYNES NAIRN NESTON NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE NORTHAMPTON NORWICH NOTTINGHAM OLDHAM ORKNEY OXFORD PEEBLES PERTH PETERBOROUGH PLYMOUTH PORTSMOUTH PRESTON READING REDHILL RENFREW ROMFORD SALFORD SALISBURY SELKIRK SHEFFIELD SHETLAND SHREWSBURY SLOUGH SOUTHAMPTON SOUTHEND ON SEA STAFFORD STIRLING STOKE ON TRENT STRATHDON SUNDERLAND SWANSEA SWINDON TORQUAY TWICKENHAM WALSALL WARRINGTON WARWICK WATFORD WOLVERHAMPTON WORCESTER YORK The towns of BRECON CAERNARVON CARDIGAN CARMARTHEN DENBIGH FLINT HUNTINGDON MONMOUTH MONTGOMERY and PEMBROKE also qualified as special post towns until 1974 as the name of the county was derived from the town Following the Local Government Act 1972 addresses in these towns required the new postal county Postal counties in operation from 1974 to 1996 Editlisted with official abbreviations if anyEngland Edit Postal counties broadly matched the county boundaries established in 1974 unless noted otherwise under geographic coverage Former postal county Abbreviation 19 Geographic coverage MaprefAvon 1Bedfordshire Beds 2Berkshire Berks 3Buckinghamshire Bucks 4Cambridgeshire Cambs 5Cheshire Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 also extended into Greater Manchester 6Cleveland 7Cornwall 8County Durham Co Durham 9Cumbria Also extended into Northumberland and Dumfries amp Galloway 10Derbyshire 11Devon 12Dorset 13East Sussex E Sussex 14Essex Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 also extended into Greater London 20 Stansted post town CM24 postcode is an exclave of the Essex postal county wholly within the Hertfordshire postal county 15Gloucestershire Glos 16Hampshire Hants 17Herefordshire Covered part of Hereford and Worcester also extended into Powys 18Hertfordshire Herts Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 also extended into Greater London 20 19Isle of Wight 20Kent Also extended into Greater London 20 21Lancashire Lancs Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 also extended into Cumbria Greater Manchester North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire 22Leicestershire Leics 23Lincolnshire Lincs 24London Not a postal county but the London postal district corresponded to the London post town 20 25Merseyside 26Middlesex Middx Covered parts of Greater London and Surrey Enfield post town was an exclave separated from the rest by the London postal district and Hertfordshire 20 27Norfolk 28North Humberside N Humberside Covered part of Humberside 29North Yorkshire N Yorkshire 30Northamptonshire Northants 31Northumberland Northd Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 consisted of two unconnected areas divided by Tyne amp Wear NE19 postcode 32Nottinghamshire Notts 33Oxfordshire Oxon 34Shropshire Salop 35Somerset 36South Humberside S Humberside Covered part of Humberside 37South Yorkshire S Yorkshire 38Staffordshire Staffs 39Suffolk 40Surrey Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 also extended into Greater London 20 and did not include Spelthorne included in Middlesex 41Tyne and Wear Tyne amp Wear Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 long salient into Northumberland all the way to the Scottish border NE19 postcode 42Warwickshire Warks Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 consisted of two unconnected areas divided by West Midlands i e the easterly salient of the Coventry post town 43West Midlands W Midlands Significant differences from the county boundaries established in 1974 extended into Warwickshire all the way to the Leicestershire border CV7 postcode 44West Sussex W Sussex 45West Yorkshire W Yorkshire 46Wiltshire Wilts 47Worcestershire Worcs Covered part of Hereford and Worcester 48Scotland Edit The postal counties of Scotland broadly followed the boundaries of the civil counties on the mainland Offshore islands however were regarded as distinct counties for postal purposes There was no postal county of Buteshire which was instead divided between the Isles of Arran Bute and Cumbrae Former postal county Geographic coverage MaprefAberdeenshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county plus the former 1890 1975 counties of Banffshire and Kincardineshire and less Aberdeen post town 49Angus Approximated to 1890 1975 county less areas in Dundee post town 50Argyll Approximated to 1890 1975 county less islands 51Ayrshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 52Banffshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 53Berwickshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 54Caithness Approximated to 1890 1975 county 55Clackmannanshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 56Dumfriesshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 57Dunbartonshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county comprising two separate areas 58East Lothian Approximated to 1890 1975 county 59Fife Approximated to 1890 1975 county 60Inverness shire Approximated to 1890 1975 county less islands 61Isle of Arran 62Isle of Barra 63Isle of Benbecula 64Isle of Bute 65Isle of Canna 66Isle of Coll 67Isle of Colonsay 68Isle of Cumbrae 69Isle of Eigg 70Isle of Gigha 71Isle of Harris 72Isle of Iona 73Isle of Islay 74Isle of Jura 75 Former postal county Geographic coverage MaprefIsle of Lewis 76Isle of Mull 77Isle of North Uist 78Isle of Rum 79Isle of Scalpay 80Isle of Skye 81Isle of South Uist 82Isle of Tiree 83Kincardineshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 84Kinross shire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 85Kirkcudbrightshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 86Lanarkshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county less areas in Glasgow post town 87Midlothian Approximated to 1890 1975 county less Edinburgh post town 88Morayshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county less areas now in Aberdeenshire 89Nairnshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 90Orkney Covered 1890 1975 county and modern islands area 91Peeblesshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 92Perthshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county less areas in Dundee post town and Dunblane Doune Callendar Trossachs Loch Earn Killin Crianlarich amp Tyndrum areas now in Stirlingshire 93Renfrewshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 94Ross shire Approximated to 1890 1975 county of Ross and Cromarty less islands 95Roxburghshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 96Selkirkshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 97Shetland Covered 1890 1975 county of Zetland and modern islands area of Shetland 98Stirlingshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county plus Dunblane Doune Callendar Trossachs Lopch Earn Killin Crianlarich and Tyndrum areas now in Strlingshire 99Sutherland Approximated to 1890 1975 county 100West Lothian Approximated to 1890 1975 county less Queensferry Dalmeny Ratho and Kirkliston areas now in the City of Edinburgh 101Wigtownshire Approximated to 1890 1975 county 102Wales Edit Former postal county Abbreviation 19 Geographic coverage MaprefClwyd Broadly matched the 1974 1996 counties 103Dyfed 104Gwent 105Gwynedd 106Mid Glamorgan M Glam 107South Glamorgan S Glam 108Powys 109West Glamorgan W Glam 110Northern Ireland Edit Former postal county Abbreviation 19 MaprefCounty Antrim Co Antrim 111County Armagh Co Armagh 112County Down Co Down 113County Fermanagh Co Fermanagh 114County Londonderry Co Londonderry 115County Tyrone Co Tyrone 116Normally counties in Northern Ireland are named with the word County and not simply the county name perhaps to avoid confusion with the towns of the same name After 1996 EditPostcode defined circulation Edit The Royal Mail ceased to use postal counties as a means of sorting mail following the modernisation of their optical character recognition equipment in 1996 Instead using postcode defined circulation the outward code first half of the postcode is used to differentiate between like sounding post towns In 2000 the postal county data was removed from the Postcode Address File database and was added to the Alias File which is used to cleanse data of local colloquial and postally not required details that have been added to addresses According to Royal Mail policy the field is not updated and where new post towns are created they will not be assigned to a former postal county In guidance to customers it is required that the correct post town and postcode must be included in addresses and a county is not required 21 As part of a flexible addressing policy customers can add a county which will be ignored in the sorting process 1990s local government reform Edit During the 1990s a reform of local government in England caused further changes to the locations in which the former postal counties did not match up to the geographic counties Avon Cleveland and Humberside were abolished as geographic counties and Rutland was reconstituted This had the following effects on the relationship between the geographic and postal counties Former postal county CoverageAvon Bristol Somerset part Gloucestershire part Cleveland County Durham part North Yorkshire part North Humberside East Riding of YorkshireSouth Humberside Lincolnshire part Leicestershire part RutlandHereford and Worcester was abolished and reconstituted as two separate counties once more broadly matching the former postal counties Greater London and Greater Manchester remained unaffected by the reform Local government was also reorganised in 1996 in both Scotland Local Government etc Scotland Act 1994 and Wales Local Government Wales Act 1994 such that in some places counties reverted to the historic names once again e g Pembrokeshire 2 but in others the post 1974 names were retained e g Powys and Gwynedd As the Royal Mail had also declared postal counties redundant in 1996 the former postal county data was not updated to reflect these changes Extended usage Edit Despite Royal Mail stipulating that counties no longer form part of addresses many organisations have continued routinely to include them as part of postal addressing often simply combining Postcode Address File data with the data from the Alias File Some organisations using software which requires a county to be included as part of a postal address have extended the use of counties to addresses in special post towns which never needed them This continued use has caused customers in areas where there is discrepancy between the postal and geographic counties to complain to Royal Mail Until 2007 the Royal Mail position was that under their current code of practice changes to county data will not be considered 3 21 However after a lengthy and well organised campaign 22 the Royal Mail agreed to create a postal county of Rutland in 2007 This was achieved in January 2008 by amending the former postal county for all of the Oakham LE15 post town and part of the Market Harborough LE16 post town 23 In contrast Seaton Delaval residents had unsuccessfully campaigned in 2004 to be removed from the former postal county of Tyne and Wear 9 In 2009 the Royal Mail code of practice came up for renewal and the regulator Postcomm held a public consultation on its future Consultation guidance from the regulator indicated that although the former postal county data is obsolete it was the last available data set to be in routine use and was therefore the most likely to be used by corporate customers for their address databases 4 It was also recognised that residential customers in some areas were not happy with this situation The Royal Mail reconfirmed its preference for eliminating counties altogether from addressing but also invited comments on providing a new and updated county data field reflecting boundary changes Postcomm found that many respondents objected to the use of obsolete counties In May 2010 Postcomm decided to advise Royal Mail to discontinue provision of such information at the earliest opportunity However because some existing software included the use of counties Royal Mail was advised not to implement the change before 2013 5 The timetable announced by Royal Mail in July 2010 indicated that this was likely to happen between 2013 and 2016 6 In 2013 Felicity MacFarlane stated the Royal Mail position 24 As we have stressed for a number of years Royal Mail s Postcode Address File does not contain county names as they are not required for postal purposes However we do make a list of historical county names available to customers to reference if they wish though we don t encourage external organisations to use or rely on the county information Between November and December 2013 a further consultation on the issue was conducted by the PAF Advisory Board that sought opinions on removing some or all of the county data from the Alias File 25 and the results were published in January 2014 26 Notes Edit a b Because the post town was a special post town the postal county was not required The postal county was Northumberland before 1974 References Edit Royal Mail Programmers Guide Edition 7 version 5 0 Royal Mail Group Ltd 2009 p 65 a b Pembrokeshire Royal Mail Database c218WH Hansard 23 June 2009 Retrieved 23 July 2009 a b Royal Mail Postcode Address File Code of Practice permanent dead link 2004 a b Postcomm Review of Royal Mail s Postcode Address File Code of Practice Consultation Archived 3 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine 28 May 2009 a b Changes to postcode address file Code of Practice under Condition 22 of Royal Mail s licence A decision document PDF Postal Services Commission Postcomm May 2010 Archived from the original PDF on 20 July 2011 Retrieved 12 June 2010 a b Hope Christopher 31 July 2010 Counties to be axed from postal addresses The Daily Telegraph London Retrieved 2 August 2010 Alignment of postal and county boundaries HL Deb 15 July 1963 vol 252 c108WA Parliamentary Debates Hansard 15 July 1963 Retrieved 10 June 2007 Residents in postcode row Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine BBC News 27 June 2002 a b Villagers address their concerns BBC News 30 October 2004 a b General Post Office October 1961 Postal Addresses HMSO HMSO The Inner London Letter Post 1980 Corby M The postal business 1969 79 1979 G P O To Keep Old Names London Changes Too Costly The Times 12 April 1966 Changes in local government units may cause some famous names to disappear The Times 2 January 1973 Post Office will ignore some new counties over addresses The Times 26 November 1973 Local Government Reorganisation and Postal Addresses Local Government in England and Wales A Guide to the New System HMSO 1974 p 185 ISBN 0 11 750847 0 Argyll Postal Address Parliamentary Debates Hansard 9 April 1975 Retrieved 10 March 2009 House of Commons Hansard Written Answers 4 July 1974 col 278 a b c Royal Mail PAF Digest Issue 6 0 permanent dead link a b c d e f Geographers A Z Map Company 2008 London Postcode and Administrative Boundaries 6 ed Geographers A Z Map Company ISBN 978 1 84348 592 6 a b Royal Mail Address Management Guide 2004 MP wins seven year postal address battle Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Stamford Mercury 5 November 2007 AFD Software Latest PAF data news MP launches Humberside mail protest sticker campaign BBC News 22 November 2013 The Provision of County Information in PAF PDF PAF Advisory Board 4 November 2013 Archived from the original PDF on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 27 January 2014 Counties Consultation results PDF PAF Advisory Board 13 January 2014 Archived from the original PDF on 24 September 2015 Retrieved 27 January 2014 External links EditInformation on Royal Mail Alias File Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Postal counties of the United Kingdom amp oldid 1176777840, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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