Public asked to suggest names for the Link Road

Rother District Council, the authority responsible for naming the road, is to vote on Monday whether to launch a competition to invite residents to put forward a name for the BHLR.

After receiving the submissions, a shortlist of three names would be drawn up from which the council would pick the winner.

If felt appropriate, one of the other short-listed names could be used as the name of the gateway road, between the Link Road and Wrestwood Road in Bexhill.

Rother aims to name the new stretch of road by summer 2014.

Some names have already been suggested for the BHLR.

Westfield-based historian Andy Saunders previously launched a campaign to name the Link Road after RAF Spitfire pilot Alfred Eric Davies, who was shot down over the Combe Valley in 1940.

But a report issued ahead of Monday’s council meeting said that not holding a competition would be ‘a missed opportunity’.

But Mr Saunders’ suggestion could still be in the running.

The council’s 2009 ‘Street Naming and Property Numbering Policy’ states that ‘wherever possible a street name should have a proven historian connection to the land intended for development.’

Among the other criteria is that street names should not be difficult to pronounce or spell and should not have the potential to cause offence.

Councillors are to meet on Monday to discuss the matter.

The Bexhill-Hastings Link Road is expected to open in May 2015.