Greater Manchester Act 1981

Section 22: “(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 Town 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 22 introduces a new legislative scheme for street numbering and dis-applies the 1847 Act as it relates to numbering. 

Highways Act 1980, section 329 – ““street” has the same meaning as in Part III of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991”

New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, section 48(1) – “In this Part a “street” means the whole or any part of any of the following, irrespective of whether it is a thoroughfare—

(a) any highway, road, lane, footway, alley or passage,

(b) any square or court, and

(c) any land laid out as a way whether it is for the time being formed as a way or not.

Where a street passes over a bridge or through a tunnel, references in this Part to the street include that bridge or tunnel.”

As with the West Midlands, the former Metropolitan County has been abolished and its functions transferred to the Metropolitan District Councils.  Looking at Manchester City Council’s website, it refers both to this Act and the 1925 Act.