Agenda item

To review the Council’s Street Naming and Numbering policy (copy attached).

The Head of Business Improvement and Modernisation introduced the Street Naming and Numbering Officer’s report (previously circulated) which provided the Committee with the current Street Naming and Numbering Policy. The report sought members to review and determine whether any changes were required to the policy.

Members were advised by the Street Naming and Numbering Officer that the policy had been adopted in 2014, with the latest amendments to it being approved, via a Lead Member Delegated Decision, in August 2018.  The Policy stipulated that all new street names in Denbighshire should either be Welsh or bilingual.  It was important that street names were consistent with the local heritage for the area and clear for the purpose of property location for deliveries and emergency services’ purposes.  Of the 20 street names approved in recent years 18 had Welsh only names, with the remaining 2 having bilingual names.

Responding to members’ questions officers:

·         advised that where English only street/road names were currently shown on signs, they would not be replaced with bilingual ones until such time as the signs were broken/required replacing due to the additional costs involved.  If town and community councils were willing to fund the costs of new signage, the Council would replace the English only ones with bilingual signs;

·         confirmed that where bilingual names existed it was Royal Mail’s policy to publish the English version of the address and hold the Welsh version in the background;

·         explained that, whilst the policy discouraged the practice of naming streets after specific individuals, alive or deceased, the Authority had permitted the naming of six new streets in Rhyl after local servicemen killed in action.  As the Town Council had put forward the names of a total of eight local service personnel killed in action, the names of the next two streets to be built on the development would bear the remaining two servicemen’s names;

·         affirmed the latest addition to the list of approved names that could be used was ‘Cae’;

·         advised that whilst postcodes were useful when attempting to locate the area where a property was located, as they covered quite a large area having easily identifiable street names was helpful when narrowing the search down for a specific property, particularly for the emergency services and for delivery purposes;

·         confirmed that the local authority had the final decision on the naming of a street or road; and

·         agreed that all street names should be displayed in a standard format and a standard font size.  If this was not adhered with members should raise the matter with the Council’s Highways Service

Members queried a number of anomalies or inconsistencies within the Policy.  Amongst these were the following:

·         English version - Section B:  paragraph 2 ‘mead’ should read ‘mede’;

·         no direct translation of ‘cae’ included in the English version;

·         Welsh version – Section B:  paragraph 2 ‘heol’ should be included as it did exist in local street names already;

·         Section B:  paragraph 2.2 – the prohibition of the use of the definite article ‘The’ in English and consequently of ‘Y/Yr’ in Welsh did cause a problem in Welsh as the definite article (‘y fannod’) was a requirement in Welsh as a prefix to certain names;

·         Section B:  paragraph 2.4 – the use of North/East/South and West needs to be revisited as the meaning may not always be clear in the Welsh version;

·         Section D:  paragraph 3.3 in both English and Welsh versions the reference to “between 2013 and 2016” needs to be updated/deleted; and

·         Section D:  paragraph 4.1 in both Welsh and English versions – names of partner organisations need to the update to reflect current official titles e.g. North Wales Fire Service should read North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, Dee Valley Water should be replaced with Hafren Dyfrdwy.

The Committee was of the view that the policy would benefit from a thorough review to ensure it was up to date and contained no inconsistencies. Members therefore:

Recommended: - that officers having regard to the above observations –

(i)           undertake a thorough review of the Street Naming and Numbering Policy;

(ii)          that as part of the review the Council’s Welsh Language Steering Committee is consulted on its contents and the accuracy of the draft policy; and

(iii)         that the revised draft Policy is presented to Performance Scrutiny Committee in the autumn of 2019 for consultation prior to being submitted to Cabinet for approval and adoption