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Where Do You Live?

What’s in a number? Actually a house number that is clear and unambiguous is very important, particularly in an emergency.

By Bass Coast - 11th July 2011 - Back to News

Multiple dwellings on one site, retirement villages, caravan parks and new subdivisions all present a challenge to logical street numbering.

Bass Coast Shire Council took a proactive approach to the issue and hosted a workshop this month to discuss the impact of new Australian standards for rural and urban addresses.

Council’s Acting Infrastructure Director, Mark Simpson, said representatives from Baw Baw, South Gippsland and LaTrobe City Councils and Philip Island Nature Parks attended the workshop.

"We invited Dr Laura Kostanski from the Registrar of Geographic Names Victoria to talk to us about the impact of these new standards," explained Mr Simpson.

"Dr Kostanski stressed that the standards have been updated to ensure that every property can be assigned a unique, unambiguous address, including street number, road name and locality.

"Yvonne Thompson from Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) talked to the group about the importance of having a clear address in an emergency. Yvonne stressed that for Emergency Services vehicles responding to an emergency, every second counts," explained Mr Simpson.

"It is important to have a clear address for location purposes, but equally important to clearly display the house number at the entrance to the property."

Mr Simpson said when re-assigning new addresses or making changes to existing addresses, Council always had to consider emergency response.

"Emergency vehicles such as Police and Ambulance are dispatched from Melbourne these days and quite often crews need to find properties in areas where they have never been before," said Mr Simpson.

"Sometimes numbers do need to be adjusted because the numbering system has become too confusing. Council wants our communities to be safer and easier to find.

"If any resident believes a gross error has been made when determining your road number, please contact us," urged Mr Simpson.

"We will look at the issues and discuss the problem with you."

If you are concerned about your property being difficult to find, the state government website www.land.vic.gov.au, contains an interactive map where you can search and locate your property. If you cannot locate your property, please contact Council, as this map base is used to locate addresses in an emergency.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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