Council backtracks over street name rule

Marston Parish Council has been naming newly built roads after soldiers listed on the village war memorial for nearly a decade

A rule that stopped new streets being named after World War One soldiers has been revised.

Marston Moretaine Councillors were "outraged" after Central Bedfordshire Council said that a road could not be given the "name(s) of people, living or deceased".

Since 2015, the parish council has been naming new local roads after fallen soldiers from WW1 and many of the names on the village war memorial were used in a new development called Marston Fields.

However, Central Bedfordshire Council backtracked and said it was now "possible to use names from the war memorial" after "clarification" had come "following a review”.

Streets on a new estate were named after fallen soldiers, such as Evans Orchard

Private Evans' name was used to name a new road

Speaking about the ban, chairman of Marston Moretaine Parish Council, Hugh Roberts, said: “We were outraged really to find what we had been doing was suddenly not going to happen any more.”

He added that councillors had assumed that the new directive had been agreed at a Central Bedfordshire full council meeting, but claimed that it later transpired "some faceless bureaucrat had decided to change the guidance without telling our elected representatives".

Hugh Roberts said Marston Moretaine parish councillors were "outraged"

The street names guidance was updated in August 2023 and included the clause: "[Street] name(s) will not be the name(s) of people, living or deceased."

Conservative Central Bedfordshire councillor for Cranfield and Marston Moretaine, Sue Clark, said she was "very pleased" that "in the face of growing pressure, the council has urgently u-turned on this nonsensical decision, which banned Marston Parish Council from naming new streets in honour of their WW1 fallen".

Mr Roberts added: "Common sense has prevailed."

A Central Bedfordshire council spokesperson said: "Following a review of our street naming guidance in response to an issue highlighted at full council, we have added a clarification regarding local war memorials."

Central Bedfordshire Council said the guidance was not intended to include people commemorated on war memorials