Retention of Highway Extent Change Notification information from Local Highways Authorities (FOI2637)

We received your request on 22 August 2026.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

A copy of your request is set out in the extract below:

I am seeking clarification of Ordnance Survey’s procedures for handling change information supplied by local highway authorities.

This request does not relate to any specific location. It concerns Ordnance Survey’s general practice.

When a County Council Highways authority notifies Ordnance Survey of an alteration such as to the highway extent, and Ordnance Survey subsequently updates its mapping to reflect that change, I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:

1. Does Ordnance Survey retain a record of the notification itself? (For example: correspondence, change submissions, forms, digital change requests, or any other documentation supplied by the highway authority.)
2. If such records are retained, for how long are they held? Please provide the relevant retention schedule or policy.
3. What is the format of the retained record? For example: email, scanned correspondence, structured change‑request data, or other formats.
4. Are these records accessible to the public or to Public Sector Geospatial Agreement members? If so, please specify the mechanism for access.

If Ordnance Survey does not retain such notifications, please confirm this explicitly.

Taking each request in turn, I confirm the following:

1. Does Ordnance Survey retain a record of the notification itself? (For example: correspondence, change submissions, forms, digital change requests, or any other documentation supplied by the highway authority.)

I confirm that Ordnance Survey does retain a record of the notifications.

2. If such records are retained, for how long are they held? Please provide the relevant retention schedule or policy.

I confirm we do not hold a record confirming how long the notifications are held, there is no retention schedule or policy which applies to these notifications.

3. What is the format of the retained record? For example: email, scanned correspondence, structured change‑request data, or other formats.

We retain the following: The notifications are received by email from GeoPlace LLP on behalf of Local Authorities. Each email has an attached road classification change form in Excel file format. Site maps may also be provided with the change form in PDF or PNG formats as separate attachments.

4. Are these records accessible to the public or to Public Sector Geospatial Agreement members? If so, please specify the mechanism for access.

I confirm that the records are not made accessible to the public or to Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) members.

Advice and Assistance

The majority of changes to highways are identified through a range of change intelligence sources and our own survey revision activities. These change intelligence sources also include:

• notifications from external third parties on changes to the built environment, including changes to roads and highways;
• Traffic Regulation Orders published by Local Authorities to update network information;

• notifications from National Highways Authorities of Great Britain regarding changes to the Strategic Road Network; and

• supplies of streets data derived from the National Street Gazetteer (NSG).

Information from these sources is used to identify and verify changes which may require updates to our mapping. Where updates to our mapping are made as a result of such change intelligence or survey activates these updates are added to our mapping database and reflected in our mapping products which are available to the public and PSGA members.

We have provided additional information in this response to assist you with understanding how changes are identified and processed in accordance with section 16 of the FOIA.

Whilst we have answered your questions above, the FOIA only provides a right of access to recorded information held by public authorities. It does not require a public authority to create new information, provide explanations, give opinions or answer questions where information is not already held in a recorded form.

General enquires of this nature should be submitted to our Customer Services Centre, who will be better able to deal with your enquiry and will aim to respond to you within 10 working days. You can call customer Services on 03456 050505 between 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday or email customer.services@os.uk. For full details on how to contact Customer Services please see our website Contact us | Home | OS.