Whanganui District Council mulls public input on new Whanganui street names - but no 'Streety McStreetface' please

A mock up of a street name ruled out by Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDoaull. Image / Bevan Conley

No ''Streety McStreetface'', says Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall.

Other than that, residents may soon have input on naming the city's streets.

Whanganui District Council is reviewing how new streets are named and councillors want developers to have less of a say and the public to have more input.

"At the end of the day, the roads and the names of those roads reflect our community," councillor Helen Craig told council's strategy and finance committee this week.

"It's all a part of our feeling of belonging and thanking those people who have gone before us.

"And whilst our developers put all that time and money into it – and I appreciate that - what do they know about road naming?"

Next week a draft policy will be presented for the council to approve for public consultation. It will remove consideration of personal names linked to the developer for road names and introduce consideration for tupuna or Māori names.

McDouall said there were plenty of famous Whanganui people, such as Robert Burchfield, whose names should take precedence over names important to developers.

"Here's the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, born here, and nowhere can you see a street named after him," McDouall said.

"While I understand a developer might want a legacy it seems perverse to not honour our old famous citizens."

Councillor Alan Taylor was "uncomfortable about the weight given to developers in the naming of new roads" and agreed.

"I don't think it should be there. I'm very supportive of the concept of the community being involved."

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The proposal had wide council support but Rob Vinsen said giving the public a say would complicate the process.

"There's an old saying that a camel is a thoroughbred designed by a committee and I think this applies," he said.

"I couldn't imagine how many names might come forward or what they might be."

McDouall assured him they would be worthy.

"We're not going to get Streety McStreetface any time. It's much more likely that we'll get things that honour [known people]."

Councillor Charlie Anderson said the policy only allowed the public to make suggestions, not the final decision.

"We're going to make the decision, they're just going to put names in the hat," he said.

There was a suggestion from councillor Murray Cleveland that a bank of possible names be built up for council staff to select from to avoid a consultation each time.