Grammar campaigners win fight with council over apostrophe on village sign
Grammar campaigners have won a year-long fight to get an apostrophe reinstated on their street sign.
Residents were left outraged after the punctuation mark was left off the new road furniture of St Mary’s Terrace in Twyford, Hants.
When it was raised with Winchester city council, villagers were told that the apostrophe had been omitted deliberately as part of a local authority policy to make signs easier to read.
“Clear and unambiguous street and place names are vital for postal and other delivery services and also for the emergency services – and punctuation can make that more difficult,” the council leader told a meeting.
However, following the hearing – at which Jane Austen’s inconsistent use of the punctuation mark was cited – the authority relented. The original sign, complete with apostrophe, was renovated and reinstalled after a city councillor discovered it in the council dump.
The punctuation row began in November 2022 when the new road sign provoked discontent in the village.
Oliver Gray, a resident, complained at the time: “There definitely should be one [an apostrophe] there, firstly for reasons of correctness and secondly because that is the street’s name, according to both the Land Registry and the Ordnance Survey.”
In February Cllr Tony Bronk, who represents the village, asked for an explanation at a council meeting.
New sign ‘confusing’
Martin Tod, the council leader, replied: “I’m aware that this is a topic where emotions can run surprisingly high – and where having a clear policy will be helpful in managing this.”
He said that following guidance from the Ordnance Survey and the Local Government Association, new street names did not include punctuation.
“Personally... I believe we should avoid new road or place names having any punctuation at all and avoid new names where the lack of punctuation could cause confusion.
“This would not mean that the council would want to scrap all punctuation in existing street names and places.
“The apostrophe was invented several hundred years after the Mayoralty took responsibility for recording the streets of Winchester and, in common with our most famous local writer, Jane Austen, the mayor, corporation and council have not always used them very consistently.
“However it’s not a prudent use of resources to revisit our predecessors’ decisions, except in the most unusual cases.”
He agreed that the new sign was “confusing” and “not in line with residents’ wishes”.
Speaking about the council’s justification for the apostrophe-free sign, Mr Gray, who is a former language teacher, said: “That is so bonkers.
“Driving down the road an ambulance isn’t going to say: ‘Oh look, there’s an apostrophe.’
“I think there’s a national thing where we’re trying not to bother with apostrophes, driven by text speech and spell check.”
