Leeds City Council has confirmed that it won’t help residents in the fight to change their postcode from Bradford to Leeds.
Residents in Gain Lane, Thornbury, are desperate for a postcode change as they claim the BD3 postcode causes issues with the emergency services and bills. A portion of the road is located in the Leeds district area, Pudsey, and have to pay the city’s higher rates of council tax – making them feel “punished” on both sides.
The Royal Mail decides which postcode to assign to an area. The national postal service has pushed back on residents’ appeals as it would “likely mean altering it for neighbouring streets too.” Over the years, residents worked with local councillors and Leeds West and Pudsey MP Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to change the postcode from BD3 7BN to an LS28 postcode.
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Leeds City Council said “no formal request was submitted by the council to Royal Mail,” despite sharing the resident’s concerns with the emergency services. The local authority has also asked aggrieved residents to bring further concerns directly to those organisations, rather than the local authority, in future.
Resident Gurvinder Singh Sandhu, 59, spoke about the problems, recounting a story where his 84-year-old mother took a fall and suffered agonising pain without treatment for “14 hours” as a result of postcode confusion.
Neighbour Abdul R Butt, 63, felt “punished” by the fact he has to pay higher rates of insurance due to having a BD postcode, while also paying higher rates of council tax to Leeds City Council.
General views of the Leeds district end of Gain Lane -Credit:Samuel Port
Leeds City Councillors for the Calverley and Farsley ward, Andrew Carter, Peter Carlill and Craig Timmins, have supported the “frustrated” residents, calling on the council to take action. MP Rachel Reeves sent a letter to the Royal Mail requesting the changeover.
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “Responsibility for the allocation of postcodes in the UK lies solely with Royal Mail. The council did, however, conduct a substantial amount of work in 2020 and 2021 so it could better understand the postcode-related issues affecting some addresses in the Thornbury area.
“This work included the gathering of evidence from local residents and consultation with agencies such as West Yorkshire Police, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and Royal Mail itself.
“Royal Mail confirmed to us at the time that it would not make changes to a postcode area unless it felt such a step would improve the efficiency of its operations. For this reason, no formal request was submitted by the council to Royal Mail regarding the addresses.
“We shared the findings of our work with consultees – including Royal Mail – with a view to them exploring whether changes could be made to their internal systems and processes that would ease the problems people were facing.
“We would ask current residents to raise any new issues directly with the organisation or service involved. They can, if they wish, make the council’s street naming and numbering team aware of the issue at the same time, which will help us monitor the situation in the area going forward.”
BD3 Gain Lane resident Gurvinder Singh Sandhu -Credit:Samuel Port
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Postcodes are designed to support the efficient sorting and delivery of mail, not to reflect geographic or administrative boundaries. Each one is based on the delivery route and the local delivery office, which means the postcode may not always match the actual geographic identity of the area.
“We have previously reviewed the arrangements and given the structure of the local network and the needs of the nearby delivery office, we do not believe a change is appropriate for our operations.
“It is important to note that postcodes typically cover groups of addresses delivered together. Changing the postcode for one street would likely mean altering it for neighbouring streets too, which can cause wider disruption and would only be considered if there were a strong operational need.
“This postcode has been in place for many years and is widely recognised. While local service providers are expected to maintain accurate and up-to-date address data, we will continue to engage with them and offer support where needed.”
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