Ten year battle over ‘rude’ street sign as council reinstates it despite residents’ objections

Suspicion surrounds the disappearance of the sign which was damaged in 2016

The council are reinstating the sign after it mysteriously vanished (Google Maps)

A ‘rude’ street sign is set to be reinstated despite backlash from the people who live there.

The name ‘Slag Lane’ has long stirred debate in Westbury, Wiltshire, with some residents thinking it offensive and in need of changing while others argue it is just part of local history.

In the latest development in the decade-long saga, Wiltshire Council has ordered new signs to replace ones that mysteriously vanished around five years ago.

In 2014, the town council decided against a bid to rename the street ‘Lakeside View’’. The original name comes from the slag piles at nearby Westbury Ironworks.

In the years that followed, Google Streetview showed the sign toppled on its side in 2016 and then disappearing altogether two years later.

Some Westbury residents suspected a local who opposed the ‘offensive’ name could be the culprit but the council said the sign was removed after it was hit by a bus.

The name has inspired much debate over the years (Google Maps)

Locals have taken to Facebook to share their support as they backed the return of the signs with the original name.

Gren Nelon said: “It’s part of the social history of the area. History should never be hidden or altered to appease modern woke sensibilities.”

Giles Myhill shared his frustration and said: “I know exactly where this is and had noticed that the sign had gone. No doubt it is the people who have chose to live there who are complaining about the name.”

Jax Armes added: “The name refers to the industrial history of the area. It’s only modern smutty minds that have turned it into something else.”

At the time of the debate over the name, town councillor Russell Hawker said: “The committee decided that the name Slag Lane is historic and appropriate in this context, and that new residents moving into homes in Slag Lane knew perfectly well the name of the road before they moved.”

The lane lies next to an old factory, Westbury Ironworks which operated between 1859 and 1933. Today, open pits filled with water are all that remain of the old industry.

Cllr Caroline Thomas, cabinet member for transport and street scene, said, “Following a request raised through the Local Highways and Footway Improvement group last April, with support from Westbury Town Council, new replacement signage was ordered for Slag Lane in Westbury.

“Whilst we are unsure what had happened to the original signage, the replacement signage has now been delivered and has been programmed for installation in due course as part of our local highways maintenance programme.”