Pool of street names from public mooted

The public may have more input into city street names.Photo / File

Whanganui will soon have an updated street-naming protocol and it's one that ensures the public will have an input.

The council's statutory management committee has revisited the naming process after it received 14 submissions from the public.

Currently the developer submits three names to council. Under the revised policy that process will continue but developers will also have the option of opting for an inventory of names suggested by the public.

And there will the usual stipulations around names such as historical relevance, and appropriateness.

Committee chairman Mayor Hamish McDouall said the policy was robust and that "everyone, including iwi, can have an input".

McDouall said he hoped having this "grab-bag of names" would not preclude particular themes being continued, such as the street names in Springvale.

He said there were instances where street names simply did not work.

"Magnolia Lane for example is the sort of place Desperate Housewives would live. Wouldn't it be great to walk down Mateparae St (named after former Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, born and educated in Whanganui)," he said.

There were 14 submissions to the council with 47 per cent of them endorsing the status quo. But an underlying theme preferred more public involvement in the naming process.

One submitter wanted to rename some streets in Aramoho to "reflect the district they are in as opposed to places in India". Those streets included Delhi Ave, Bombay, Lucknow, Madras and Burmah streets but that was rejected by the committee.

Nor did it make a resolution on a submission that iwi have control over the naming of any new street or suburb.

The committee's recommendations will go to full council for endorsement.