Street name shake-up offers public chance to have a say

LOCAL residents are to have their say on the naming of new streets in the city for the first time.

So-called "banks" of street names are to be set up for different areas of Edinburgh, which will be used when new developments are built.

The city's 12 neighbourhood partnerships, made up of community representatives, councillors, public bodies and the voluntary sector, will help establish the list.

It means local residents will be able to suggest imaginative names with a historical link to the area, which could involve immortalising famous former residents.

It is not current practice to name streets after living people, but suggestions could be made from the world of literature.

Potential candidates include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who studied at Edinburgh University, or Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote about Corstorphine Hill in his novel Kidnapped.

Other possibilities include political figures – such as Robin Cook and John Smith, who both have links to Morningside – great thinkers like Adam Smith and Alexander Graham Bell, or sporting heroes associated with Hearts or Hibs.

Edinburgh has always had strict rules for street naming and re-naming – the responsibility for which falls to the council.

The new set-up will replace the current system, which involves the council's head of planning choosing a name in sole consultation with the local councillor for the area.

Former Lord Provost Lesley Hinds, who sits on the council's planning committee, said: "Street naming is actually very controversial, but previously it has been left to individual councillors.

"However, with the new multi-member wards there are three or four councillors for each area, so it gets more complicated and people have different views.

"The new system will give an opportunity for communities to have an input."

Cllr Hinds said that as well as the possibility of immortalising famous people, street names could be based on Edinburgh's twin cities, including Florence, Munich, Nice, San Diego, Vancouver and St Petersburg.

The system is also designed to speed up the process of naming streets, given the large number of new developments in the Capital.

The council's director of city development, Andrew Holmes, said: "It is proposed to create a new system of consultation for the neighbourhood partnerships that can be phased in for each partnership over the next 12 months. A 'bank' of street names will be created for each partnership area.

"A regular review of the bank is suggested to top up the name list."

Many of the Capital's oldest street names were inspired by tradespeople, literary characters or fashionable resorts. Having a business or leaving a financial legacy to the city fathers was a good way of ensuring your name was never forgotten.

Aitchison's Place in Portobello was named after a 19th-century sweetmaker, noted in the history books just as Mr Aitchison.

Chalmers Street, in Lauriston, was named after plumber George Chalmers. He died in 1836, leaving £30,000 to establish a hospital. His trustees used the money to buy Lauriston House, which became Chalmers Hospital.

Tourism chiefs in Portobello in the 1820s named streets after the most fashionable resort of the era –resulting in Brighton Crescent and Brighton Place.