Marlborough Sounds properties have swapped traditional jetty identification numbers for distance-based addresses.

The new Water Addressing scheme rolled out by Marlborough District Council means that properties accessible only by boat, now use a standardised addressing system.

Although jetty numbers can be useful for on-water navigation, they don’t meet the modern Addressing Standards now widely required for emergency response, delivery services, infrastructure management, and general property identification.

Property addressing is also the basis for New Zealand’s voting system, ensuring residents can be correctly enrolled at their property location.

Instead, Water Addressing uses a distance-based method based on measured distance along the shoreline.

Consistency

The Council’s Road Name and Addressing Co-ordinator, Belinda Darrell, said Marlborough’s Water Addressing project was one of the largest implementations to date in New Zealand.

“The scale of this project is considerable,” said Ms Darrell.

“With more than 1,500 kilometres of coastline to consider, easily the largest and most complex in the country, the Marlborough Sounds presents a rather unique challenge.

“Our GIS assessment earlier this year showed around 1,700 properties in the Sounds were not numbered and many were only accessible by water,” Ms Darrell added.

“The implementation of this system is a major step toward providing consistent, modern addressing across our region,” Ms Darrell said.

Alignment

The Council worked closely with Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to ensure the new system aligns with New Zealand’s Addressing Standards.

The scheme is already used by several other councils across New Zealand, including the Tasman, Auckland, Christchurch and Porirua councils, but Marlborough Sounds is the largest single catchment.

“LINZ has collaborated with the Council team to develop and agree a consistent approach to support the implementation of water addressing for boat access properties,” said LINZ Addressing Lead, James Virgo.

“This ensures properties have clear, consistent addresses and it’s positive to see this work now being made publicly available,” he said.

The project involved the work of teams across Council, including the GIS and IT teams.

“There has been a lot of work involved to ready the technical and data management systems required to deliver Water Addressing for the Sounds but the benefits in terms of clarity, safety and support for emergency and service providers for this area make it worthwhile,” Ms Darrell said.

Numbering pattern

Depending on the site, the Water Address location for each property will be assigned to either the dwelling, the jetty or the midpoint of the property.

Within each bay, Water Addresses are allocated clockwise, and once the first property is assigned an odd or even number, the entire bay follows that same numbering pattern to maintain consistency.

Each Water Address also includes the locality name to help distinguish properties within the Sounds.

“This locality information is essential because many bays in Marlborough share the same name, with some duplicates appearing up to five times across the region,” Ms Darrell said.

Council will use the official bay names provided by LINZ when assigning new water addressing.

Once assigned, property files will be updated in Council’s system to reflect the change and a formal confirmation letter sent.

“We want to make it super easy for people — you will simply need to apply via Council’s website, and we will take care of the rest,” Ms Darrell said.