What's in a name?

Whenever you encounter some bizarre rule in local Government it is always interesting to see just why it came about. At today's seminar on building and planning regulations Rushmoor councillors were politely informed by officers that although they can see the case for consulting local councillors and residents on what to name new streets and developments, that it just doesn't happen anymore.
This is of course ridiculous- councillors are elected by residents on the basis that we will represent you and will have a pretty good idea about what you want. Just in case we forget what you like we have elections every four years to remind us.
As elected representatives we have the profound responsibility and honour to be able to serve and to enact changes that matter in people's lives. This can vary from the seemingly big stuff which you notice once a year- cutting council tax, reducing the costs of council services and opening new facilities, to the small things which do matter because we see them every day.
There is something hugely important about local names- Cody, Invincible, Empress- all of these things mean things to Farnborough and can remind us of who we are, and why.
So on what basis are councillors denied the chance to help name new roads and developments? Well yes, every opportunity to serve others is also an opportunity to serve yourself- so it turns out that one of the most common uses of this power in the past was for councillors to name streets after well known local citizens... an unusually high proportion of whom just so happened to be those same local councillors at the time!!!
So in this case you can understand the rules but I still think they need to change. Today we pressed for councillors to at least be consulted- who knows, we may actually have one or two good ideas! Anyway, let's see what happens...