Public Registers Help
These guidelines are to assist you in using the online public register metadata search service, if these help files do not answer your questions please contact: Chris Jarvis
- Finding your way around the Public Registers
- Search by Postcode
- Search by Town
- Search by Company
- Finding further information
- Requesting more information and documents
Finding your way around the Public Registers
To find your way around the Public Registers use the standard navigation at the top and bottom of the page (see figure 1) to get back to the main Environment Agency website and perform a free text search of the website. On the right hand-side is a menu with links to other useful tools. All the Public Register related links are on the menu on the left hand-side and the web page content is always displayed in the centre column.
Figure 1: Site Navigation
You can access the public register search pages by using the Search public registers button on the left hand-side of the web page (see figure 2).
Figure 2: Main Menu
You can also access the search pages by clicking on the following button: 
Search by Postcode
1) Enter your postcode in the relevant text box, the format of the entered postcode will be checked automatically.
2) Select the public register from the drop down list that you wish to search on (see figure 3).
3) Select the radii around the postcode you wish to search on, you can select 1, 3, 5, or 10km in the drop down list. The wider the radii search the longer it will take to search.
4) Click on the Find button next to begin the search
Figure 3: Search by Postcode
Search by Town
1) Enter the Town name of interest in the relevant text box (* see note below).
2) Select the public register from the drop down list that you wish to search on.
3) Select the radii around the postcode you wish to search on, you can select 1, 3, 5, or 10km in the drop down list (see figure 4>. The wider the radii search the longer it will take to search.
4) Click on the Find button next to begin the search
Figure 4: Search by Town
* Note: You must spell the name correctly to find an exact match. If the Town name entered could be of several then a list of possible towns will be presented for you to select from.
If you are unsure of the spelling you can use the wildcard character *, i.e. enter the first few letters followed by a * and it will return the Towns beginning with those letters, enter * then the last few letters and it will return the Towns ending with those letters, or just enter a few letters and all towns containing the letters will be returned.
For instance bris will return the Towns shown in figure 5, bris* the same list without Stockland Bristol, Somerset, *stol returns Bristol and Stockland Bristol, Somerset and bri*tol finds an exact match on Bristol.
Click on the Town that matches your requirement to begin the search.
Figure 5: Multiple towns found
Search by Company
1) Enter the company name in the relevant text box (* see note below).
2) Select the public register from the drop down list that you wish to search on.
3) Click on the Find button next to begin the search (see figure 6)
Figure 6: Search by Company
* Note: You must spell the name correctly to find an exact match. If the company name entered could be of several then a list of possible company names will be presented for you to select from. If no match is found an automatic wildcard search is then applied (see below).
If you are unsure of the spelling you can use the wildcard character *, i.e. enter the first few letters followed by a * and it will return the company names beginning with those letters, enter * then the last few letters and it will return the company names ending with those letters, or just enter a few letters and all company names containing the letters will be returned.
Click on the company name that matches your requirement to begin the search.
Finding further information
Once a search criteria is entered (i.e. Postcode/Town AND Public Register AND Radii or Company AND Public Register) a search will be undertaken of the database, returning one of two possible results:
1) If no data is found a message will appear (see figure 7 and figure 8) you can try a different search, i.e. change the public register, use wild characters or increase the radii of the search
Figure 7: No Records Found
Figure 8: Could Not Match Search Criteria
Or
1) If metadata exists it will be returned in a table (see figure 9). Data will be grouped in series of 10 (default) results per page, though this can be changed. To move to the next page use the Next button, or use the Jump to page to enter a page of interest and click on the Go button.
2) To gather more detail on a particular record or records, simply click up to 5 the tick boxes and click on the Show detail button (see Requesting more information and documents). A page will be displayed showing all the available online metadata for the selected records.
Figure 9: Records Found
Requesting more information and documents
1) To request a document, simply click the tick box relating to the record of interest (up to a maximum of 5) and click the Next button (see figure 10). A page displaying an e-mail form will open where you can enter your contact details.
2) The e-mail form is split into two parts (see figure 11 and figure 12):
The first part is where you enter your contact details. We cannot process your request without this information. In order to access the services we provide and to provide us with feedback, you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (e.g. name, address, and telephone number). The services provided include licence application, environmental information, provision of feedback and consultations.
By entering your details the Environment Agency will be able to provide you with the services you indicate in the second part of the form. Whenever you provide personal information, we undertake to treat that information in accordance with the Environment Agency’s Privacy Policy, to read more click on the button marked privacy policy at the bottom of each page:
Figure 11: Meta data available
