Battle line is finally drawn on road name

Corsham Town Council has refused to back down over its choice of name for the new Maplecroft housing development in the town centre.

But the developer is objecting to the name Bryant Fields because it says it implies the housing was built by another developer, Bryant Homes.

The district council's area committee suggested the town council meet with the developers to come up with another name.

Town council chairman James Fraser said they were prepared to stand firm.

"It is a matter of principle. I cannot understand the developer. We have looked into it and it is the only historical name relevant to that site. We feel it is very important that we keep historical names in our town.".

The developer however, wants to call it Market Yard, and if an agreement cannot be found that will be the name given to the road.

North Wiltshire District Council has now said it will accept Market Yard if an agreement is not reached within ten days.

But Mr Fraser said: "The council is adamant that this is the name it wants. This is the first time a developer had rejected our suggestion. We could come up with other relevant historical names that would also coincidentally be the names of other developers."

The land on which the houses are built used to be a field that belonged to the postmaster Mr Bryant.

"There are still people in the town who remember when it was Bryant's field and that is the point," said Mr Fraser. "So much time and effort has been wasted over something so simple. Market Yard is not an appropriate name because there has never been a market there."

"There used to be a hardware store which the Smith family owned for years. People would get their timber from the backyard and it was known to everyone as Smith's Yard. When it closed down and they built houses on it Smith's Yard was the obvious name for it and it is the same for Bryant's Field," said Mr Fraser.

It will now be up to Maplecroft Developments to finally decide what name it will adopt for the road.