Street Naming Award, November 2013

The Street Naming award presented to Trumpington Residents’ Association and Trumpington Local History Group, Trumpington Village Hall, 21 November 2013. Photos: Andrew Roberts.

On 21 November 2013, the Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Paul Saunders, presented awards to the Trumpington Residents’ Association and the Trumpington Local History Group to commemorate the way the City Council and the two groups have worked together in the naming of streets in the new housing developments (Clay Farm, Glebe Farm and Trumpington Meadows). The Mayor praised the work of the two local groups and the shared vision of making the city a good place to live for existing and new residents. He conveyed his appreciation to the groups on behalf of the Council.

Nick Milne, the City Council officer responsible for coordinating street naming, explains the background. The Exemplar Award was given by GeoPlace, which is a partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Ordnance Survey. GeoPlace’s role is to work with local authorities to create and maintain the National Address Gazetteer for England and Wales, providing definitive sources of public owned special address and street data. The City Council and the two groups have been awarded the GeoPlace Street Naming & Numbering Award 2013 for the Best Example of Local Involvement in Street Naming and Numbering.

The award recognises the efforts of working with the local community, and in particular Trumpington Residents’ Association and Trumpington Local History Group, who have been instrumental in naming the streets in the new developments.

Dr Stephen Brown, Trumpington Residents’ Association, Councillor Paul Saunders, Mayor of Cambridge and Howard Slatter, Trumpington Local History Group.

Nick Milne, Cambridge City Council, Dr Stephen Brown, Trumpington Residents’ Association, Councillor Paul Saunders, Mayor of Cambridge and Howard Slatter, Trumpington Local History Group.

Nick Milne, Cambridge City Council, Dr Stephen Brown, Trumpington Residents’ Association, Councillor Paul Saunders (Mayor of Cambridge), Jenny Blackhurst, Trumpington Residents’ Association, Howard Slatter, Trumpington Local History Group and Councillor Andy Blackhurst.

Haslingfield Parish Council also contributed to the process as part of the Trumpington Meadows development, which is in the neighbouring South Cambridgeshire District. So far, over 30 new street names have been required and all of the names chosen have been supplied by the local resident groups. Many further suggestions have been received and it is expected that these will be used as the development progresses.

Stephen Brown accepted the award on behalf of the local community. Stephen thanked the Mayor and paid tribute to all the people involved with the proposals for street names in the new developments. In particular, he thanked Anne Kent’s husband who first made suggestions several years ago. More recently, Jenny Blackhurst, Howard Slatter and Shirley Brown were heavily involved in collecting names from members of the Trumpington Residents’ Association and the Trumpington Local History Group. Suggestions were prioritised according to their historical importance, frequency of the proposal and suitability for the different areas of the developments, before sending them to Nick Milne at the City Council. Nick had been very helpful in explaining the requirements and restrictions for the procedure. The local City Councillors, including Andy Blackhurst (Chair of the Southern Fringe Community Forum), were consulted before the names were passed to the developers.

A brief justification for the name was attached to the recommendations. As names are accepted by the developers, Andrew Roberts is developing a more detailed derivation of the names on the Local History Group web site. A number of these examples were quoted in a report in the Cambridge News on 28 October 2013.