Mosgiel street name has no local significance

The private way off Cemetery Rd will be called Jollie Lane after 19th-century surveyor and politician Edward Jollie Photo / Wikipedia

A new road in Mosgiel is to be named after a man with no connections to Otago.

The private way off Cemetery Rd will be called Jollie Lane after 19th-century surveyor and politician Edward Jollie (1825-1894).

Born in England, Jollie surveyed the site of central Christchurch, was a Canterbury Provincial Council member and member of Parliament for Cheviot.

He farmed in Canterbury and lived in Taranaki when he retired.

An alternative, Redwood Ln, had already been ruled out by the Dunedin City Council under its road naming policy because there was an existing Dunedin street with an almost identical name, Redwoods Ln.

Considering the name at last week's meeting of the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board, board members Brian Miller and Dean McAlwee expressed concern that someone who had had no significance to the Taieri should have been chosen by the developer.

The board voted to accept Jollie Ln, Brian Peat voting against the motion.