Stuart HarrattEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Amanda White / BBCThe residents of Short Lane in Bridlington have been left with that shrinking feeling after waking up to find their road renamed Shorter Lane.
They were left “gobsmacked” after East Riding of Yorkshire Council installed the new street sign a few days ago, local councillor Liam Dealtry said.
He said he had been inundated with complaints about the name change, which council officers told him “reflects the name as officially registered”.
Born and bred in Bridlington, Dealtry disputed that claim saying: “I’ve never known it by that name, it’s always been called Short Lane.”
“My phone, my messenger on Facebook has been going absolutely barmy, because obviously people don’t want to see it,” the resort’s former mayor added.
“People are just gobsmacked.
“A couple of streets along we’ve got Long Lane.
“What are they going to do? Are they going to rearrange that to Longer Lane?”
Dealtry pointed to old Ordnance Survey maps from the early 1900s and 1940s where the road is listed as Short Lane, adding that online digital maps such as Google and even the council’s own mapping system call it by its original name.
Amanda White / BBCDealtry said he hoped the sign would be changed back soon.
“We’re proud of our street names and we want it to be what it’s meant to be,” he said.
“Not what somebody in an office somewhere decides it should be, or what they’ve mistakenly believe it should be.”
His view was echoed by local resident Kate Sunley who said: ” They can call it what they like.
“We’ll just carry on calling it Short Lane.”
Amanda White / BBCA spokesperson for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said a routine inspection found the road nameplates needed replacing.
“The officer ordering the replacement signs noted that the name was logged as Shorter Lane in the National Street Gazetteer and so replaced both signs in accordance with that record.”
Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.