OFFICERS of Staindrop’s historic village hall were dumfounded to discover their venue has no official address despite being built almost 150 years ago.
The anomaly was discovered by Scarth Memorial Hall secretary Ed Chicken when he tried to access Durham County Council’s online system. He said: “I fell at the first hurdle because the Scarth Hall is not listed on their dropdown menu. Durham County Council then direct users to the Royal Mail when this happens – so I duly reported it.”
He was shocked further when he received a reply from Royal Mail which read: “I’m sorry, it appears we haven’t received notification from your local authority about the address. Local authorities are the statutory body responsible for officially naming and numbering properties and thoroughfares.”
Mr Chicken said: “So even though it was built in 1875, is used by Durham County Council for elections and other purposes, we still have a sort of shadow existence.”
Despite not having an address, post has been faithfully delivered to the hall for years.
The secretary quipped: “The postman delivers post to the letter box at the hall – so we never knew there was an issue. But he’s a human so uses common sense.”
He added, however, that county officers were extremely helpful in resolving the issue.
Brian Buckley, Durham County Council’s strategic highways manager, said: “Whilst systems such as electoral services and council databases have address reference points to show the occupation of a premises, these are not official postal addresses.
“Official postal addresses are those listed on Royal Mail’s postcode address file which is used by the majority of providers and suppliers.
“However, in some cases this is not obtained, and years or decades can elapse before one is needed. Often it is only when ordering goods, changing energy suppliers, or purchasing insurance that it comes to light that a property does not have an official postal address.
“In this instance, we have spoken with the secretary of Scarth Hall to explain the situation and resolve any issues regarding its address. We have also arranged for our internal council systems to be recorded and reconciled under Scarth Hall.”
