No street: Sergeant major Brooks VC

An English town council has rejected a proposal to name new streets after local men who were decorated for bravery in the First World War.

Milton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, is due to expand by at least 3,000 houses over the next 10 years, causing a need for new streets – all of which will require names.

Too difficult

The council is of the opinion, however, that it will be too difficult to carry out background checks on individual soldiers – to find out, for example, if they had criminal records before or after the war.

It also suggested the choice of choosing which street to name after which man or woman would be too difficult and that it wasn’t policy to name streets after anyone who hadn’t been dead for more than 100 years and who wasn’t a globally recognized figure.

Local people point out, however that their town already has Hendrix Drive and Marley Grove – named after ground-breaking musicians Jimmy Hendrix and Bob Marley. It also has Boycott Avenue and Shackleton Place, named after cricketers Geoffrey Boycott and Derek Shackleton.

Victoria Cross

One of those who is believed to have been proposed for recognition via a street name was sergeant major Edward Brooks VC of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who was born close to what is now Milton Keynes in 1883.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action in April 1917 when he captured a German machine gun that had been causing heavy casualties among his unit.