SAndrew, formerly known as Prince but now named plain Mountbatten-Windsor, can be found from Broadstairs to Belfast and Birmingham. Roads, walkways, rooftops, alleys, cul-de-sacs, cul-de-sacs, driveways and walkways are all affected – to the dismay of some residents.
In Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, the Prince Andrew Way celebrating Mountbatten-Windsor’s 1986 wedding to Sarah Ferguson is to be removed after Mid and East Antrim Council passed a motion to change the name, which one councilor described as “sad but necessary”. A public consultation is underway.
In Maidenhead, Berkshire, Prince Andrew Road, adjacent to Prince Andrew Close, is being hit with a double whammy, with some residents complaining of “surface-level embarrassment”, “smiling” and “frowns” whenever their address is revealed. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead made any name changes easier this week, drafting its rules to require the consent of two-thirds of residents, where previously all had to agree. There is no timeline for any changes, but they are being worked through internally.
There are others who may be considering alternatives after Mountbatten-Windsor was formally stripped of his styles and titles due to sex allegations related to Virginia Giuffre, a victim of American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Cambridge, Hitchin, Telford, Newport, Enniskillen and Dungannon all have streets with their names and royal prefixes. However, a street in Norwich is disputed, with a local councilor claiming it is actually named after Prince Philip’s father, Prince Andrew of Greece.
However this will not be an easy process. Details on residents’ bank accounts, credit cards, driving licenses, utility bills, property deeds, even pet microchips will have to be changed, as will business letterhead and cards.
The important thing is that there should be a consensus on any new name, which is not always easy. When Black Boy Lane in Tottenham, north London, was renamed in 2023 following Black Lives Matter protests over claims it was linked to slavery, it took Haringey Council three years and at least £50,000 to reimburse residents in 168 properties for the cost of changing addresses.
The street was eventually renamed La Rose Lane, after John La Rose, a black publisher, author and local political activist. But in the weeks that followed, residents living on the street reportedly put their own “Black Boy Lane” signs in windows in protest and a mural featuring the street’s original name was painted on the wall behind the street sign, which was removed.
Councils should also consult the emergency services and Royal Mail to avoid duplication and confusion. To cover administrative costs, councils may charge fees varying from authority to authority. Land registry legal fees, Google Maps, sat navs – it has far reaching implications.
This is probably why the Geoplace best practice manual on street names discourages the use of names of living people, due to the risk of a situation like Andrew’s.
The deceased can also be problematic. The plaza named for Margaret Thatcher in Madrid has been repeatedly damaged and politicized, so much so that in 2014 it was unofficially renamed Bobby Sands Plaza on the 40th anniversary of the death of the IRA member who died on hunger strike in the Maze prison. Meanwhile, Churchill Street in Tehran, where the British Embassy was located, was officially renamed Bobby Sands Street in 1981, a problem the embassy changed by building a new entrance in Ferdowsi Street next door, safely named after an Iranian hero, the Persian poet Ferdowsi.
Bristol City Council is not changing streets named after 17th-century slave trade Edward Colston, despite calls from some, with a council spokesman confirming this week that there is no open consultation on the subject.
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Richard Harwood Casey, an expert in planning law and joint head of 39 Essex chambers, said, “I think one of the reasons the change is not very common, and one of the reasons it is controversial, is the administrator.”
Under the existing legal framework set out in the Leveling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, local authorities must demonstrate that they have achieved “sufficient local support”. However, the Labor government has not introduced secondary legislation – regulations – to define precisely what “substantial local support” means or to mandate any specific process, such as a formal referendum with a two-thirds majority.
“Right now we’ve got section 81 of the 2023 Act. And that means changing the name is a matter for the local authority, and the operation needs the necessary support,” Harewood said.
Whether that was simply a vote of the street’s residents, or a two-thirds majority, “none of that has been made clear”.
Local authorities “have to decide whether the change has the support it needs and whether it has enough local support”, he added, adding that “it’s a bit of a mess.”
Removing plaque seems very easy. In the Falkland Islands, four plaques unveiled by a former prince who fought in the 1982 conflict with Argentina have reportedly been removed, one at a school and another at a hospital. An MoD spokesperson told the Guardian that the plaque commemorating the opening of the £300m RAF Mount Pleasant airbase in 1985 was also gone, but had actually been removed during renovations before the Epstein allegations and never put back.
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