A PROPOSAL to rename a main road into Wellington as a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II has been supported by local councillors.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s policy and resources committee supported a proposal on February 20 to rename the B3187 Taunton Road - which runs from the Chelston Roundabout to the Priory junction - as Queen Elizabeth Way in memory of the monarch who died in September 2022 after 70 years on the throne.

Town clerk Dave Farrow, in a report, said: “We have been advised that to use Royal names we would need to seek the permission of the Monarch through the Cabinet Office which has advised that guidance on submitting memorialising requests will be published in due course.

“We have been advised by Somerset West and Taunton Council that we need to canvass the views of any residents affected and that any proposal would require the support of 75 per cent of those residents.”

Mr Farrow said that the stretch of road being looked at only had three postal addresses – so two of the three would need to agree to the proposal.

Cllr Marcus Barr said he was in support of the proposal, but questioned whether there would be any possible conflict or confusion with the existing Elizabeth Close in Rockwell Green.

Former Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said that Elizabeth Close had been named after the brave Second World War British-French special operations executive agent Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo.

Szabo was executed by the Germans in February 1945 at the age of just 23.

A film about her life – Carve Her Name with Pride – saw another courageous Second World War secret agent Odette Hallowes, who had links with Wellington and is remembered by Odette’s Tearoom in the town centre, serve as a technical advisor for the 1958 movie starring Virginia McKenna.