A COUNCILLOR will get a road named in his honour after all – if fellow councillors have anything to do with it.

Developers sparked controversy with their decision not to name a road after late Hedge End Town councillor Ray Hicks because they deemed his surname offensive due to its American connotations.

However, the town council has said it plans to put his full name forward for the next developers’ scheme that comes along.

This comes after bosses at construction firm Foreman Homes told the town council they were not prepared to use Hicks Avenue in their latest Hedge End development because it is a derogatory term.

The town council had hoped to honour Cllr Hicks’ service during the 1990s, when he helped bring about measures for disabled residents and the town’s twinning with Comines-Warneton, in Belgium.

He was town council chairman in 1994, a role his wife Pearl performed in 2007.

Both have since passed away.

Of the five names put forward Cllr Hicks’ was the only one developers refused for the 94-home development off St John’s Road, that they start work on this spring.

‘Hick’ is an insulting slang term, chiefly used in America, to describe someone who has always lived in the country and is unfamiliar with city life.

Sheila Baynes, chair of Hedge End Town Council, said she believed it was too late to change the developers’ decision and even if successful it would likely mean withdrawing one of the other names.

But she said members had not abandoned getting the Cllr Hicks’ name used elsewhere and hoped to submit Ray Hicks Avenue or Drive when the opportunity arose.

The council hopes the full name will reduce the risk of negative association.

“I’m pretty sure one day that there’ll be a Ray Hicks Drive,” said Cllr Baynes.

“I’m sure this will be put forward – whether there’ll be any trouble in future of course we can’t anticipate.

“There are plans for a lot more houses in various places so I’m sure there will some roads in the future.”

Many Echo readers expressed their dismay at the developers’ decision online.

One, who called for a rethink, said: “We happen to be in the UK, not USA, where the word Hick (not Hicks) is rarely used or largely understood.”

One comment read: “Talk about over thinking an issue. This is England I doubt anyone cares what it means in America.”

Another said: “Struggling to see anything in his name which would cause anybody the slightest offence.

“Besides which people make a decision whether to be offended or not and we should not be pandering to those who decide they might like to be offended.”

Karen Spake, director of Foreman Homes, based in Park Gate, believed the public was aware of the American meaning and the word is in the English dictionary, describing someone unintelligent and not interested in culture. She has said people did not like such derogatory terms for their homes and purchasers were not likely be aware of the reason behind it.