WHITEHILL Town Council this week discussed potential road names for new Bordon developments but, once again, found them to be lacking.

At Monday’s full council meeting, members were asked to consider Hammersley Road or Hammersley Way as options for links from the relief road and the new town centre.

Councillor Adam Carew was first to criticise the “naff” name. “Who the hell is Hammersley?” he asked.

With “so many” well-known “local historic references” councillors broadly agreed that the name was not ideal.

Despite the Whitehill & Bordon Regeneration Company explaining that the name was that of a senior British Army officer, Major-General Frederick Hammersley of Bordon Command, Mr Carew said: “I’m sorry, most people will not have heard of him”.

The Regeneration Company is redeveloping Prince Philip Barracks to provide a new town centre, schools and housing.

“The trouble is,” Mr Carew added, “it’s not memorable and it’s not easy to pronounce”.

But councillors took the motion as presented and, following a vote, did not endorse the name. “If we’re saying we don’t like theirs we ought to provide an alternative,” Mr Carew observed, before suggesting either Prince Philip Way, or Gilbert White Way, with the former emerging as the favourite. A second vote saw his proposal carried.

The town councillors’ comments will go back to the Regeneration Company and time will tell if local people pull off onto Prince Philip Way or Hammersley Way in years to come.

Members then considered a longer list of names for smaller roads in the new town-centre development.

Ideas such as Pavilion, Bennet, Stokes and more were proposed without an explanation from the developer. However half the list comprised of soldiers buried in Bordon Military Cemetery, in Bolley Avenue. These included Winter, Pink, Hunter and Kennedy, among others.

But councillors felt without a clear rationale for the historic relevance of many of the names, it made sense to defer their feedback until they knew more. But some suggestions raised the odd eyebrow.

“Don’t think I want to live in Pink Road, thank you very much,” councillor Chris Mitchell said.

This is not the first time the town council and Regeneration Company have been unable to see eye to eye over street names. Last year, members discussed the proposals for Dukes Quarter - the first major housing development at Prince Philip Barracks. But with roads such as Dickens and Jane Austen Close potentially running between the 172 new homes, councillors were quick to object.

Taking inspiration from Whitehill and Bordon’s heritage is considered to be essential for place shaping so the town council has long agreed that new developments should have names with links local to the town. Councillors have drawn up a list of possible ideas.

James Child, project lead at the Regeneration Company, said previously that “the naming of the roads, buildings and community facilities is very important”.

As such, developers “engage with the local heritage society and members of the local community, to produce names that reflect the heritage of Whitehill and Bordon, the barracks and the surrounding areas”.

However, they “appreciate that names are subjective and not everyone will agree upon all of the suggestions”.

The town’s regeneration, described by East Hampshire District Council as a “£1bn, multi-partner, 15-year collaborative and transformational place-making programme”, will include 3,350 new homes and nearly 100,000 square metres of new commercial space.

And lots of new places need lots of new titles.