Bedford Driving Lessons

A survey of new street names shows they are increasingly being chosen to reflect councils’ interests in the environment, health and safety, and diversity. Goodbye Acacia Avenue – welcome to Eco Way, Euro Close and Sustainability Way. “New age” ideas are also influencing the naming of roads such as Karma Way or Yoga Way. Other streets are being given names which reflect Britain’s increasingly multicultural society. Experts said that local authorities were doing the same thing the Romans did 2,000 years: using names which reflected the nature of society around them. Dr David Green, a geographer from King’s College London, said: “Street names reflect modern culture and society and preoccupations. They now also show a worldwide influence.” Among the new streets with an environmental theme are Eco Way, in Doncaster, and Sustainability Way, in Leyland, Lancashire. There are also a Kyoto Walk and Kyoto Terrace, in Havant, Hampshire, which feature environmentally friendly homes and were named after the Japanese city where an international treaty on climate change was agreed. Reflecting an interest in health and safety, council officials in Poole renamed Salamander Road as Safety Drive, after a new fire station was built on it. Samsara Road, in Bromsgrove, and Karma Way, in Harrow, north London, both use phrases from Indian religions, dealing with concepts of reincarnation and cause and effect, respectively, which have become popular elements of “new age” western thinking. Then there is Yoga Way, in Sutton, south London. In Brent, however, councillors chose the financial over the spiritual, calling one street Euro Close. More