EAST Hampshire District Council has shed light on how it goes about naming things.

This comes as the Whitehill & Bordon Regeneration Company, which is developing Prince Philip Barracks in Bordon into a new town centre and housing, continues to ask stakeholders for feedback on its ideas for new road names. Most recently, a link from the relief road to the new town centre came onto the table.

“The name Prince Philip Way was put forward by Whitehill Town Council as a possible road-name suggestion for the link road at its meeting on March 5,” a district council spokesman said. “The developer had also suggested road names which were discussed at this meeting.

“Usually, we would not name a road after a person who is still living. However, the name Prince Philip has been used by other councils for road names and in this case the council would have been happy to use it.

“Instead the road name Havannah Way was suggested by the developer, as it felt it fell into its criteria of naming the roads in the proposed new town centre after the history of the development site. Havannah Way has now been approved by Whitehill Town Council.

“When the Prince Phillip Barracks was built in 1935 it was known as Havannah Barracks. It was known as this up until 1984 when the name was changed to Prince Philip Barracks. If there is an option to use the name Prince Philip in the Bordon area in the future for a road name it could be considered again.”

The town council has drawn up a list of ideas for possible road names, based on the town’s heritage. So, when asked for feedback on new developments, councillors are poised and ready. Street names have to get the seal of approval from the Post Office, to ensure they are not too similar to others, before they become official.