Leader bids to change Hampshire council's name

Leader bids to change Hampshire council's name Leader bids to change Hampshire council's name

A HAMPSHIRE council leader wants to change his borough’s name – because it’s too negative.

Anthony Briggs has suggested renaming Havant to South East Hampshire to improve the area’s image.

The Conservative, who has led the borough council for five years, claims the current name sounds like “have not”.

He said: “I think a name such as South East Hampshire has a much better ring to it than Havant. It is confusing to people. When I go abroad and I’m asked where I come from, I tell them and they have no idea where it is.”

But the idea has been dismissed by local residents proud that Havant’s name was recorded in the Domesday Book.

Chris Everitt, chairman of the Havant Group Business Centre, said: “There will be a lot of opposition. People here are proud and there is no way they would stand to lose such an important part of their heritage.

Comments(8)

jonnyx says...
4:08pm Sun 17 Feb 13

nice to see the leader of the council for the last five years has such pride in his borough. :(

Inform Al says...
4:44pm Sun 17 Feb 13

What a totally stupid idea, wonder what news in the pipeline he is trying to take our minds away from.

cliffwalker says...
5:20pm Sun 17 Feb 13

He must have dug down deep to find this crazy idea when there are plenty of more obvious matters near the surface needing attention.

redsnapper says...
6:05pm Sun 17 Feb 13

Incredible!, Local and national economies in distress and all this Tory buffoon can contribute is this stupid idea.

My old man always said that councils were chock full jobsworths led by people with little or no idea about anything.

Proof!

rickey says...
7:39pm Sun 17 Feb 13

If people abroad don't know where Havant is why doesn't he just give them a map. This person is out of his head, you can't call a town South East Hampshire. Let's hope he receives immediate medical help.
When I worked in Havant I noticed that a lot of people did not know where Lee on Solent was, perhaps we should change its name to South West of South East Hampshire.

Night Mare says...
9:04pm Sun 17 Feb 13

Why not change it to Briggsborough?

FoysCornerBoy says...
12:02am Mon 18 Feb 13

My suggestion is to abolish the borough (which includes Leigh Park) altogether and incorporate it into a greater Portsmouth unitary authority which could save local tax payers millions.

Before the fish-fanciers from that part of the world get over-exercised, I also think that the same sort of thing should happen in the greater Southampton area.

st1halo says...
2:33am Mon 18 Feb 13

redsnapper wrote:
Incredible!, Local and national economies in distress and all this Tory buffoon can contribute is this stupid idea.

My old man always said that councils were chock full jobsworths led by people with little or no idea about anything.

Proof!
Your old man was right!

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