West Midlands County Council Act 1980

Section 9: “(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 being 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 9 operates in the way described above to introduce a separate street numbering legislative scheme in the West Midlands administrative area.

In 1980 there would have been the West Midlands County Council and the Metropolitan Districts with it established in 1974 under the 1972 Act.  These Metropolitan Districts have not changed since 1980 but the County Council has been abolished.  Birmingham City Council’s website states that the council is acting under the 1925 Act when undertaking numbering and naming.