Issue - meetings

To consider replacing the existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy with a revision that improves the opportunity for naming tributes to the deceased, particularly fallen service personnel.

RESOLVED that:

(i)            The existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy (dated October 2016) be revoked.

(ii)          The revised Street Naming and Numbering Policy, set out in Annex 1 to the report presented, be adopted.

(iii)         The delegation, set out in the Council’s Constitution under Part 3b: Officer Scheme of Delegation (paragraphs 8.13, 8.14 and 8.15), with reference to street naming and numbering be reaffirmed to the relevant Head of Service.

Councillor K. Foreman, Executive Member for Planning Policy, invited the Executive to consider replacing the Council’s existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy. The Executive was informed that a revised policy, set out in Annex 1 to the report presented, would improve opportunities for naming tributes to the deceased, particularly fallen service personnel.

In response to questions it was acknowledged that the existing policy was not flexible enough. For example, it was silent on naming tributes for service personnel and required a period of 70 years to have elapsed before names based on any deceased individual could be used.

As set out in the report presented, Councillor Foreman explained that a recent tribute to Guardsman James Hill, who had been killed in the Afghanistan conflict in 2009, had required a ‘Strong Leader’ decision. It was agreed that this had illustrated the inflexibility of the existing policy and had raised concerns amongst Councillors.

The Executive was asked to note that the revised policy removed the time period before which a tribute could be made to fallen service personnel. In order to show appreciation to other notable local residents the revised policy also proposed to reduce the period after which anyone could be recognised for memorial naming from 70 to 40 years. In response to questions about the change to 40 years it was highlighted that this allowed time to monitor public sentiment and was based on national guidelines, good practice and peer-research. It was noted that it would always remain possible to take ‘Strong Leader’ decisions in the event that further flexibility was required for other unknown circumstances.

Councillor Foreman also informed the Executive that the revised policy had been improved to counteract operational issues that had been faced when registering new properties. It was noted that these changes would remove obstructions in Council Tax and Waste Collection which would help to improve operational efficiency in these areas and maintenance of the Council’s central address database.

The Executive Member for Planning Policy concluded by noting that the revised policy provided a sound framework for the consideration of future Street Naming and Numbering applications.        

RESOLVED that:

(i)            The existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy (dated October 2016) be revoked.

(ii)          The revised Street Naming and Numbering Policy, set out in Annex 1 to the report presented, be adopted.

(iii)         The delegation, set out in the Council’s Constitution under Part 3b: Officer Scheme of Delegation (paragraphs 8.13, 8.14 and 8.15), with reference to street naming and numbering be reaffirmed to the relevant Head of Service.

Reason for decision: The existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy (dated October 2016) did not allow for naming tributes to recently-fallen service personnel. Neither did it clarify the Council’s operational need to allocate addresses in certain circumstances. The 70 year rule for memorial naming had also exhausted the supply of locally historic and geographically appropriate names.

Alternative options: To retain the existing Street Naming and Numbering Policy.