‘Yards’ could be reappearing on our streets after councillors have called for this historical prefix to be included in the list of approved names for roads in the area.
Councillors Bryan Alcock and Liz Sneath put forward calls for the new South Holland District Council street naming policy to be amended to include the term ‘yard’.
The new policy, which aims to provide a consistent approach for naming streets for developers, parish councillors and the public, was approved by members of the cabinet at a recent meeting.
Coun Bryan Alcock
Coun Alcock, who represents Crowland and Deeping St Nicholas, called for the policy to truly reflect the statement of ‘create a sense of place by recognising the local historical or landscape character/ geography’ by allowing ‘yards’.
He said: “We are in a situation where quite a lot of areas in the middle of town were called yards historically. When you want to name or or two of them ‘something yard’ we have been told that you can’t do that as there were connotations of commercial or industrial.
“That’s what they were and of course we were over-ruled.
Coun Liz Sneath
“I regret even now that we were not allowed to use this name in some instances. One in town has got the official name as agreed by the district council and the historical one that is not allowed. It’s now got two names.”
His calls for the re-introduction of yards was supported by Coun Sneath, the Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, Conservation and Heritage.
Coun Sneath, who is also the authority’s heritage champion, felt it was important to use the term ‘yard’.
She said: “I would vote 100 times in favour of that. It creates a sense of place by recognising the local history, landscape character and geography.”
Coun Sneath also felt the prefix of ‘The’ should also be included within the policy.
Christian Allen, Assistant Director regulatory, said there was no reason why ‘yard’ could not be included on the list.
The policy not only looks at the conventions around naming streets but also numbering. It states: “The number 13 is to be used in the proper sequence and no sanction should be given to its avoidance.”
It also states that for a street to be named after a deceased person there must be evidence of that person’s ‘significant contribution’ to the community or historical connection to the development site.
The policy also dictates the style of street signs which will be white lettering on a mid brunswick green background.
Coun Jim Astill stated that the signs would also be used by partially sighted people so they needed to be accessible.
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