Nottingham City Council says it will not consider naming a street after a well-known deceased person until at least 20 years have passed since their death. The authority says the move is being taken to account for "any future changes in public opinion" about an individual, and that the new policy will bring it into line with updated national guidance.
The council's current policy on street naming and property numbering has been in place since 2014, with the authority saying a "high standard" for naming streets helps to ensure post is delivered efficiently and emergency services can find properties without undue delay. But it has not been updated since then, despite new national guidance being released in 2020.
This new guidance was released due to the "increasing focus on historic building and street names", partly brought about by the Black Lives Matter movement. The summer of 2020 saw statues, monuments and street names related to several historical figures being reconsidered, most notably a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol which was pushed into the harbour.
