A LOCAL authority is to start charging for creating and and changing street names and property numbers.

Blackburn with Darwen Council currently does not levy a fee for the service, part of its legal duty to manage and maintain its street name and house numbering database, unlike most nearby boroughs.

It ensures all new streets and properties are correctly annotated to enable bodies - such as the emergency services, utilities and broadband - to identify each property as unique.

The service is also essential for property development companies and citizens who seek to alter existing address details or create additional new properties.

Borough digital and customer services boss Cllr Quesir Mahmood has now authorised new charges from April 1.

They are: to create or change an address (including names) £50 plus £15 for each extra address/unit; to change a building name (e.g. flats) £25; to make changes after the naming and numbering and before the addresses have been used, £100 plus £12 for each extra property/unit; to register a new street £100; and to rename a street, £200 plus £15 per property on the street.

The charges are based on this of neighbouring authorities in Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

Cllr Mahmood said: "The service is a statutory service and it costs approximately £19,800 per annum. Implementing a modest charge for this service, which will impact commercial organisations rather than citizens, would allow the council to recoup some of the costs of providing this service."