Cheshire County Council Act 1980

Section 2: “the county” means the county of Cheshire;

“the county council” means the Cheshire County Council;

“district” means the district in the county;

“district council” means the council of the district”;

“street” has the meaning given by Section 295 of [the Highways Act 1959]”.

Section 11: “(1) A district council may allocate to the buildings in a street in their district such numbers as they think fit.

(2) Where a number has, or numbers have, been allocated to a building under this section or under section 64 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847, the district council may serve on the owner or occupier of the building a notice requiring him within such period, not less than three weeks, as may be specified in the notice, to mark the building with that number, or those numbers, in such a way as to make the mark legible from the street.

(3) The owner or occupier of a building shall -

(a) maintain the mark in such a way that it remains legible from the street; and

(b) keep the view of the mark from the street unobstructed to such extent as is practicable.

(4) A district council may alter the number or numbers allocated to a building, and where they do so subsections (2) and (3) above shall apply to the altered number or numbers.

(5) A district council may, instead of requiring a building to be marked with a number or numbers under this section, require it to be marked with such other means of identification as they may, at the request of the owner or occupier, allow; and subsections (2) and (3) above shall have effect accordingly.

(6) An owner or occupier of a building who without reasonable excuse -

(a) fails to comply with a notice served on him under subsection (2) above; or

(b) contravenes subsection (3) above;

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50.

(7) The following provisions of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 shall cease to have effect in the county -

(a) in the words introducing sections 64 and 65, the words   “and numbering the houses”;

(b) in section 64 the words from “shall from time to time” to “think fit, and” and the words “number or” wherever occurring;

(c) section 65.”

Section 295 of the Highways Act 1959 (which has been repealed by the Highways Act 1980 – see paragraph 5.16.5 above) provides that ““street” includes any highway and any road, lane, footpath, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not; and includes any part of the street”. 

This Act imposes in the administrative area of Cheshire a separate numbering legislative scheme from the 1847 Act allowing a district council to designate the numbers of a building in any street in their district and to require buildings to be marked with the number.  A district council is given the power to alter numbers previously allocated to a building.  There is a power for a district council to require a building to be marked with another means of identification (e.g. a name) at the request of the owner/occupier.  Failing to keep a building marked as required by the authority is an offence.

Following local government re-organisation in this area, we have looked at the Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East websites and neither, so far as we can see, refer to this Act.  Instead they refer to the 1925 Act for naming and numbering.