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What's in a Name?
When part of the Blue Coat School building was sold off to Miller Homes in 2004, a competition was organised to find a new and appropriate name for the apartment block. Pupils of the School were invited to submit their ideas, and a cash prize was offered by the developers for the winning entry. Unfortunately, however, the organisers failed to reckon with the very stringent rules now in force for Street Naming and Numbering in Liverpool - as a result of which, all ten of the submitted suggestions were rejected by the City Council 'due to duplication with existing road names'.
Apparently, the rules are that a new name:
"should not duplicate an existing street name in the Liverpool postal area. The use of an existing name with an alternative suffix, e.g. Road, Street, Close, is not acceptable as this can lead to confusion in an emergency 999 situation where the caller could be anxious";
"should not be similar to an existing street name in the same or nearby postal district";
"should not cause offence to members of the public or be a name easily modified on a street nameplate to cause such offence";
"should not be difficult to spell or likely to cause confusion when given over the telephone, particularly in an emergency";
"should not seek to commemorate any person, deceased or living, except in exceptional circumstances".
Furthermore, "The prefix 'The' or names comprising more than one word may be rejected so as to avoid confusion".
The Wavertree Society has, in the past, been responsible for a number of new street names in the area - for example Tithebarn Grove off Lance Lane and Crossley Drive/Swan Crescent/Hollins Close off Mill Lane - which it seems would not be deemed acceptable today (because of potential 'confusion' with Tithebarn Street and the 'commemoration' of the former occupiers of the Olive Mount mansion house).
We fail to see how the prizewinning suggestion from a Year 9 pupil - 'Blundell Lodge', named after Captain Bryan Blundell the co-founder of the Blue Coat School in 1708 - could have caused any confusion or offence, and we await with interest the name which will eventually be authorised for the new development.
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