Council Tax address datasets: how to request a copy of a missing dataset yourself

This post is part of a series in support of the campaign for open address data in the UK, and is adapted from a longer post published on 15 May 2026.

In this post I provide guidance on how you can potentially obtain a Council Tax address dataset that has been disclosed with permission for re-use under the Open Government Licence (or similar terms) but is not currently available via my project page at datadaptive.com/addr/.

How to request a copy of a missing Council Tax address dataset from the originating council

Disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) is "to the world at large" even if the public authority itself only supplies the information to a particular requester. The Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations (RPSI) include a regulation that prevents a public sector body from imposing any conditions on re-use that discriminate between applicants who make a request for re-use for comparable purposes.

In theory, those principles mean that if a council has disclosed a Council Tax address dataset under the FOI Act, and granted permission for re-use of all of the disclosed information under the terms of the Open Government Licence (following a RPSI request), then a second requester should be able to obtain a copy of the same dataset on the same terms for re-use for the same purpose.

In other words, you might be able to get a copy of any of the local address datasets that are listed on datadaptive.com/addr/, but not currently available, by asking the originating council for it in the right manner.

I have provided a template wording below to help you do that.

This is not an attempt to start a campaign. The current unavailability of many previously disclosed datasets is not the fault of the relevant councils, and I don't want to inundate them with requests. But if you particularly think you have a need or purpose for any of these datasets, you have statutory rights under which you can request them.

It is possible that (unknown to me) some individual councils may have changed their stance on either disclosure or re-use of the data since completion of correspondence for the original request. The only way to find that out is to ask.

You could also request an updated version of any of the datasets, as Council Tax lists change regularly. But to do so would break the link with the original request and the council will be more likely to take a different approach or fresh look – if only because the requests might be assessed by different staff.

You can usually find an email address for submitted information requests on each council's website. Most councils encourage submission of requests through a webform. Personally I avoid those because I think emails are better for documentation of the handling process and of any statement of permission for re-use.

You could also consider submitting your access and re-use request through WhatDoTheyKnow (WDTK), a site that facilitates information requests to councils and other authorities in the UK. One advantage of that approach is that any data file disclosed by the council will normally be published automatically on the site. There are numerous local address datasets available on WDTK already, including a Council Tax property list disclosed as open data by Isle of Wight Council.

As highlighted at datadaptive.com/addr/, many Council Tax address datasets are not currently available because Ordnance Survey and GeoPlace LLP have claimed that, notwithstanding any statement of permission from the councils in question, publication of the address data infringes their rights and those of Royal Mail. You should consider the likelihood that those third parties may take the same view of re-use by any other requester to whom the council might disclose the same dataset directly. You should bear that in mind if you plan to use or re-use the data for any purpose that places reliance on the licensing.

The template wording below requires you to insert some information particular to your request. You can get the date of request and council reference number for the original request from my list at datadaptive.com/addr/.

Suggested text for an email requesting a Council Tax address dataset disclosed previously

Dear [NAME OF COUNCIL],

I understand that on [DATE OF ORGINAL REQUEST] the Council received an access to information request for the Council's current list of all domestic properties within the [NAME OF COUNCIL] area, including the full address, the assigned Council Tax band, the Council's local property reference, and the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) for each property on the list.

I think the Council's reference for that original request was [REFERENCE FOR ORIGINAL REQUEST].

Please provide me with a copy of any of the requested information that the Council disclosed to the original requester in response to that request.

I do not require copies of the Council's correspondence with the original requester.

My preference is to receive the above information electronically in a re-usable file format such as Excel or CSV.

I would also like the Council's permission to re-use any information disclosed to me in response to this request. My formal re-use request is as follows, and is intended to be identical to or substantively the same as the re-use request submitted by the original requester.

I further request, in accordance with regulation 6 of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, permission to re-use all information provided in response to the above access to information request for the purpose of combining that information with data from other public datasets and making the outputs available to others in a re-usable electronic form under an open licence. I request that [NAME OF COUNCIL] grants permission to re-use the information for this purpose either without restriction or under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) or an equally permissive licence. Given my intended use, any more restrictive licensing terms would be likely to "unnecessarily restrict" the way in which the information can be re-used, contrary to RoPSIR regulation 12.

If any third party owns intellectual property rights in any of the above requested information which the Council is not authorised to license, please specify the relevant information and the name of the third party. My re-use request relates to the remaining part of the requested information.

Thank you for your attention to the above requests.

Kind regards,

[YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS]