A new road on the site of a former South Bristol tobacco factory will be named after the city’s first female lord mayor after Marvin Rees vetoed the idea of honouring a cigarette brand. The 70-home affordable housing development at Imperial Park, Bishopsworth, will have Florence Mills Brown – who held the role in 1963/64 – in its title.
But Tory ward Cllr Richard Eddy, who appeared to have won a campaign to link the street to the area’s industrial heritage, has criticised the mayor for “imposing” his will on locals “as if we were the inhabitants of some occupied territory”. He said the late Cllr Brown was a Labour politician who represented two wards miles away in north Bristol and had no links to Bishopsworth.
Cllr Eddy said he was “profoundly disappointed” with the decision, which followed an outcry from health campaigners against calling the Curo housing association development Navy Cut Road after a product manufactured at the former Imperial Group tobacco factory. Florence Brown worked at the Wills tobacco factory in Bedminster as a tobacco stripper and trade union rep and later became a city councillor and alderman, serving for almost three decades before being appointed Bristol’s first woman lord mayor.
Read more: Bristol mayor vetoes plan to name new road after cigarette brand
Her citation to the role said she was born in 1899 just three minutes from The Council House and was a governor at several secondary schools and managed a number of primary schools. Mr Rees tweeted: “We'll be naming a new road after Florence Mills Brown, the first woman to serve as @brislordmayor (1963) – long overdue since #Bristol’s Mayoralty dates to 1216!
“Florence was elected to @BristolCouncil in 1937, after working as a trade union rep and tobacco-stripper.” The mayor overturned the council’s own street-naming team’s suggestion of Navy Cut Road, which it put forward along with three other names associated with tobacco products that were manufactured by Imperial in Bishopsworth, after Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) branded it “morally unacceptable”.
This was despite ward councillors and Curo agreeing to the idea after Cllr Eddy complained that the original proposed name of Crox View was unsuitable because residents’ views of the ancient woodland whose name it came from, Crox Bottom, was obscured by Imperial Park retail centre. Cllr Eddy challenged the council and housing association to come up with a more “gritty” alternative.
He says having Florence Mills Brown in the title is no better but says the street-naming team has sent him a “condescending and extremely discourteous” email asking for his views on the suffix only, such as “Lane” or “Road”. Cllr Eddy wrote back: “Having served on Bristol City Council for 30 years, it does not escape me that, contrary to all previous practice, your team is not seeking the views of my local community and its elected councillors on a proposed street-naming within my neighbourhood.
“Instead, officers are curtly informing us – as if we were the inhabitants of some occupied territory – of an alien street-name which is to be imposed on us, contrary to our convictions. Clearly, this more reflects the political prejudices of the present Labour Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees.
“Whilst I’m sure former Lord Mayor Florence Brown was a creditworthy woman, why name a road here after a Labour politician, who represented two wards miles away in North Bristol and has no discernible links to Bishopsworth? I am profoundly disappointed with the actions of the city council’s street-naming team, which previously I have found to be beyond reproach, utterly politically impartial and manifestly helpful and responsive to local councillors and the communities we represent.
“This is not just a small disagreement over street-naming in a southern city suburb, but it goes to the heart of the debate about whether Bristol should be ruled by one man with a ‘God-Complex’ or whether local communities and their duly-elected councillors should determine their own destinies." He added: "The mayor’s office’s suggested street name is completely politically partisan, though I suppose we should be grateful they didn’t propose Marvellous Marvin Mews.”
Read next:
Cigarette-named road "morally unacceptable", anti-smoking campaigners say
South Bristol road to be named after cigarette brand instead of woodland
South Bristol councillor blasts "ridiculous" proposed new street name at former tobacco factory
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