|
|
Post by Pete Whitehead on May 5, 2019 9:36:41 GMT
The wards that surround Bath have always been called Bathavon (they were North, South and West but are now just North and South). But why? I suspect is harks back to the old Avon County Council, though those ward names didn't exist then, or it is just a lazy way to describe an area around Bath that may, or may not, include a bit of the river Avon in it or along its border. Apart from being ward names, Bathavon is never used by anyone to describe any area in or around Bath. Bathavon Rural district |
|
|
|
Post by yellowperil on May 5, 2019 9:41:16 GMT
The wards that surround Bath have always been called Bathavon (they were North, South and West but are now just North and South). But why? I suspect is harks back to the old Avon County Council, though those ward names didn't exist then, or it is just a lazy way to describe an area around Bath that may, or may not, include a bit of the river Avon in it or along its border. Apart from being ward names, Bathavon is never used by anyone to describe any area in or around Bath. Bathavon Rural district Indeed, and I have always known that area as Bathavon, back when I first knew it in forties and fifties, and way before the creation of Avon council. For once, I really don't think this is a name dreamt up by the bureaucracy. |
|
The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 39,067
Member is Online
|
Post by The Bishop on May 5, 2019 9:46:57 GMT
There is an actual place called Bathavon, no?
|
|
|
|
Post by froome on May 5, 2019 10:48:31 GMT
There is an actual place called Bathavon, no? No there isn't, at least not around here. I had forgotten about Bathavon Rural District Council's existence, though still think it a pretty awful name, though it would be difficult to find one that suited the current wards without upsetting some community somewhere. |
|
|
|
Post by WestCountryRadical on May 5, 2019 11:21:17 GMT
Weston-super-Mare Kewstoke
Kewstoke is a small isolated village to the north of Weston, it is not a suburb of Weston. As well as Kewstoke, the ward includes a vast swathe of the town from Weston Woods to Worle High Street. The ward name doesn't represent any of that. The ward could be renamed "Weston-super-Mare Worlebury and Kewstoke" or "Weston-super-Mare Worle West and Kewstoke" but neither of those is entirely satisfactory.
|
|
bsjmcr
Non-Aligned
Posts: 1,593 
|
Post by bsjmcr on May 5, 2019 12:46:37 GMT
Am I the only one who finds this thread somewhat sacrilegious? I think tradition and heritage are fine in their place, and the naming of local government units is one of those places. For example, I suggested that the traditional name of All Saints would be a much better name for the new Birmingham ward of "Soho and Jewellery Quarter". It hardly takes much effort for someone to find out the name of the ward they live in, and once they know this piece of information I don't think it bothers them much whether the name is "modern" or whether it's comprehensible to outsiders. I think one of the reasons for low turnouts is the uncertainty and confusion behind what the council/councillors do, why there are so many councillors, frequency of elections, but also names which most people wouldn't identify with I think are part of this, when much more identifiable and colloquial (as we can see here) names can easily be found that make sense to people. And it might be worth knowing what is going on in other wards too (or have friends/family there) given the coverage it has had in the news this year, locally, online, etc and an unplaceable name doesn't help with that. |
|
Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,742
|
Post by Adrian on May 5, 2019 14:32:31 GMT
Am I the only one who finds this thread somewhat sacrilegious? I think tradition and heritage are fine in their place, and the naming of local government units is one of those places. For example, I suggested that the traditional name of All Saints would be a much better name for the new Birmingham ward of "Soho and Jewellery Quarter". It hardly takes much effort for someone to find out the name of the ward they live in, and once they know this piece of information I don't think it bothers them much whether the name is "modern" or whether it's comprehensible to outsiders. I think one of the reasons for low turnouts is the uncertainty and confusion behind what the council/councillors do, why there are so many councillors, frequency of elections, but also names which most people wouldn't identify with I think are part of this, when much more identifiable and colloquial (as we can see here) names can easily be found that make sense to people. And it might be worth knowing what is going on in other wards too (or have friends/family there) given the coverage it has had in the news this year, locally, online, etc and an unplaceable name doesn't help with that. Can you provide some evidence that wards with clear names have higher turnouts than wards with opaque names? I take the point though, that when there is news about a ward it is of some help if the location doesn't have to be explained. My own ward (well, until recently) of Oscott would draw blank looks from anyone in the south of Birmingham. But I don't think you'd have much joy from the residents if you tried to rename it Kingstanding West... |
|
|
|
Post by Yaffles on May 5, 2019 15:36:01 GMT
I think one of the reasons for low turnouts is the uncertainty and confusion behind what the council/councillors do, why there are so many councillors, frequency of elections, but also names which most people wouldn't identify with I think are part of this, when much more identifiable and colloquial (as we can see here) names can easily be found that make sense to people. And it might be worth knowing what is going on in other wards too (or have friends/family there) given the coverage it has had in the news this year, locally, online, etc and an unplaceable name doesn't help with that. Can you provide some evidence that wards with clear names have higher turnouts than wards with opaque names? I take the point though, that when there is news about a ward it is of some help if the location doesn't have to be explained. My own ward (well, until recently) of Oscott would draw blank looks from anyone in the south of Birmingham. But I don't think you'd have much joy from the residents if you tried to rename it Kingstanding West... Not just south Brum! Should be called Old Oscott as lots of people get it mixed up with New Oscott - just up the road towards Sutton Coldfield. |
|
|
|
Post by therealriga on May 5, 2019 16:23:02 GMT
Northern Ireland is mostly fine. There are a few which, while not terrible, I'd have quibbles with:
Court (Belfast.) The main court in the city has been in Laganbank/Botanic since the 1970s. The Crumlin Road courthouse that it's named after closed in 1998. It's not even that the areas it contains are obscure: "Shankill and Lower Falls" would be recognisable to many people far from the district.
Bangor & Donaghadee (North Down and Ards.) One of three which contains Bangor, along with Bangor central and Bangor West. It's the only one that stretches well beyond the town so why have a name that suggests it contains the whole of the town? Bangor East & Donaghadee describes it better.
Erne North / Erne West / Erne East (Fermanagh and Omagh.) No reason to name these after the lake rather than the county, especially when the former Omagh districts are called West Tyrone and Mid Tyrone. North / West / East Fermanagh.
Titanic (Belfast.) I'm definitely in a minority on this one. I can get that, for tourist marketing purposes, they market part of Belfast as the Titanic Quarter, but there was no need to have an electoral district similarly exploiting a tragedy in which over 1,500 people died. The electoral divisions covering the area had been called Victoria from the 1920s until 2014, so there was no need to depart from the traditional name.
|
|
|
|
Post by John Chanin on May 5, 2019 16:27:28 GMT
Am I the only one who finds this thread somewhat sacrilegious? I think tradition and heritage are fine in their place, and the naming of local government units is one of those places. For example, I suggested that the traditional name of All Saints would be a much better name for the new Birmingham ward of "Soho and Jewellery Quarter". It hardly takes much effort for someone to find out the name of the ward they live in, and once they know this piece of information I don't think it bothers them much whether the name is "modern" or whether it's comprehensible to outsiders. The new Birmingham ward names are a paradigm for how things should be. They all say exactly where the ward is, and everyone in Birmingham will know. |
|
|
|
Post by John Chanin on May 5, 2019 16:30:58 GMT
Almost any ward called "Church" or "Victoria" or "Valley". Calder ward, Calderdale. Let's ignore the well known town which dominates it and name it after the same river the whole borough is named after. Rother Vale ward, Rotherham. Quite a bit of the borough is in the valley of the Rother, but quite a lot of this ward isn't. Although the Valley ward in Waltham Forest does make some sense as it sits in the Lea Valley, and there isn't an obvious alternative. |
|
piperdave
SNP
Dalkeith; Midlothian/North & Musselburgh
Posts: 911
|
Post by piperdave on May 5, 2019 17:31:33 GMT
Northern Ireland is mostly fine. There are a few which, while not terrible, I'd have quibbles with: Bangor & Donaghadee (North Down and Ards.) One of three which contains Bangor, along with Bangor central and Bangor West. It's the only one that stretches well beyond the town so why have a name that suggests it contains the whole of the town? Bangor East & Donaghadee describes it better. Apparently the electoral gods heard you in advance of the election LinkScratch that, it's always been Bangor East and Donaghadee since formation of the new councils. |
|
|
|
Post by Yaffles on May 5, 2019 17:53:04 GMT
Am I the only one who finds this thread somewhat sacrilegious? I think tradition and heritage are fine in their place, and the naming of local government units is one of those places. For example, I suggested that the traditional name of All Saints would be a much better name for the new Birmingham ward of "Soho and Jewellery Quarter". It hardly takes much effort for someone to find out the name of the ward they live in, and once they know this piece of information I don't think it bothers them much whether the name is "modern" or whether it's comprehensible to outsiders. The new Birmingham ward names are a paradigm for how things should be. They all say exactly where the ward is, and everyone in Birmingham will know. Not convinced by North Edgbaston - Rotton Park would be the name the area was known by historically. |
|
|
|
Post by therealriga on May 5, 2019 23:08:45 GMT
Northern Ireland is mostly fine. There are a few which, while not terrible, I'd have quibbles with: Bangor & Donaghadee (North Down and Ards.) One of three which contains Bangor, along with Bangor central and Bangor West. It's the only one that stretches well beyond the town so why have a name that suggests it contains the whole of the town? Bangor East & Donaghadee describes it better. Apparently the electoral gods heard you in advance of the election LinkScratch that, it's always been Bangor East and Donaghadee since formation of the new councils. My bad. It is listed simply as Bangor and Donaghadee on ark.ac.uk/elections but I should have checked that, as it seemed a bit weird. Ta for correction! |
|
|
|
Post by greenhert on May 6, 2019 17:45:47 GMT
Most of the Liverpool wards have inappropriate names in large part due to many of them shunning their obvious name and instead naming themselves after a road (Picton, Greenbank, Warbreck, County etc) The worst by far though has to go to the ward, which contains all of the Calderstones area, Calderstones Park, Calderstones school and Calderstones playing fields but instead of doing the obvious and becoming the Calderstones ward it becomes Church ward despite containing no less than four different churches (none of which are of any local renown) and it DOESNT contain its namesake Church road which is in the Wavertree ward. Massive garbage pile of a name. Hopefully these can all be fixed at the next boundary review for Liverpool, whenever that occurs. The LGBCE rarely listened to local residents during the 2002/2003/2004 reviews from what I can tell. |
|
|
|
Post by syorkssocialist on May 6, 2019 19:24:44 GMT
The only current ward name in Doncaster that leaves people wondering where it is, is Roman Ridge, which is named after a road rather than one of the major villages in the ward. I would rename it to Scawthorpe & Cusworth if only for the sake of consistency.
|
|
peterl
Green
Congratulations President Trump
Posts: 8,474
|
Post by peterl on May 6, 2019 19:30:11 GMT
I reckon my new ward name is pretty terrible - Muscliff and Strouden Park. I live in Throop, quite a substantial area between Muscliff and Strouden Park with its own identity. Should really have been Muscliff, Strouden Park and Throop.
|
|
|
|
Post by Adam in Stroud on May 6, 2019 20:01:52 GMT
I reckon my new ward name is pretty terrible - Muscliff and Strouden Park. I live in Throop, quite a substantial area between Muscliff and Strouden Park with its own identity. Should really have been Muscliff, Strouden Park and Throop.It sounds like a prog rock supergroup made up of gnomes from a story by BB. ( link for the uninitiated) |
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on May 6, 2019 20:16:22 GMT
I reckon my new ward name is pretty terrible - Muscliff and Strouden Park. I live in Throop, quite a substantial area between Muscliff and Strouden Park with its own identity. Should really have been Muscliff, Strouden Park and Throop.It sounds like a prog rock supergroup made up of gnomes from a story by BB. ( link for the uninitiated) has the same theme tune as "In Loving Memory"
|
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on May 6, 2019 21:24:12 GMT
We truly should have a competition to choose the worst ward name Feel free to run with it Dok! |
|
