Lane down the law – douzaine says it is Ruette du Villocq
Wednesday 22nd September 2010, 2:29PM BST.
After living in the Villocq Lane for 30 years, Hugh Bromley is annoyed that Castel douzaine has unilaterally renamed it – a move he fears could cause difficulties with official documents. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 1030984)
LE Villocq Lane has been renamed Ruette du Villocq – and surprised residents are not happy.
The road between Route de Saumarez and Route de Cobo has been known as Le Villocq Lane for more than 40 years.
But the douzaine decided that was too English and changed it without consulting or informing the people who live there.
That has angered Shirley and Hugh Bromley, who have lived in the section between Guildown Close and Le Villocq Estate for around 30 years.
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Just another example of a little group of people with a smidgin of temporary power imposing their will on others
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Oh fancy nancy……’Le Villocq Lane’ in the Guernsey language wasn’t pretentious enough for somebody, so they changed to Ruette du Villocq. The French must laughing all the way to their wine bottles…….
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Ch`est Le Villiocq rectifiar le noam de la ruette!
So where do you stop !
There is Gele Road, Courtil Simon Lane etc that are Anglisized
Many are mispronounced anyway in Guernsey English not Guernsiais : ie Le Friquet ought to be sounded as `freechay` – better correct that as well !!!
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Quite – and when did Retot Lane in the Castel become just plain and simple “Retot” you cannot mess around with addresses like this!
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Well done the constables,just putting it back to what it should be ,shame the st peter port constables are not as loyal with places like don street,elizabeth avenue,trafalgar court,and royal gardens/chambers etc just because the limeys wont do any other language but their own.
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Just to clarify, The Bromley’s have actually been living in “Courtil Simon Lane”, not Le Villocq Lane.
I’m wondering, has Courtil Simon Lane also been renamed as Ruette du Villocq along with Le Villocq Lane?
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DavidG
Not quite, Courtil Simon Lane must now become Ruette du Courtil Simon
This now begs the question of what the St Martins Douzaine will do with regard to the re-naming of that thoroughfare which runs somewhere behind the Trelade, currently known as La Ruette Lane
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I agree with arapaho, Guernsey’s road names are part of what makes it unique, restore them all I say.
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I think they should rename it Ruette Bromley
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its pathetic, i dont know why they had to change the name, it will always be known as Le Villocq Lane.
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the bromleys and mr paint richly deserve each other.
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Where’s the problem? We all have post codes. So does it really matter what a road, street, water lane, highway and, bye way is known as.
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Arapaho & Enigma – parl-ous Guernsias?
si pas, pourtchi pas !!!
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Living in St Peter Port I am not surprised at all, as our Constables act in the same way. Petty bureaucracy is their strong hand. Deal with the real problems which effect parishoners on a day to day basis? No the constables whine about A boards and parking in Fermain Bay.
What really shows how the St PP Constables are out of touch is how they thought that money guzzling suggestion at Les Cotils for their new office would get voted through!! How naive, stupid and out of touch can you be??
The road sign in Villocq Lane is another example of why the Douzaine/Constables system is out of date and needs an over haul.
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It never ceases ro amaze me how someone with an english sounding name and with nothing better to do than fill up half a page of the Guernsey press, complaining that the name on the road where they have lived for the past 30 years,yes only thirty years now has a Guernsey name.Don’t worry the postman,the police.ambulance and the taxi driver will still be able to find you!
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I, too, have lived there for more than 30 years. I live in a house that has been there for 500 years. The deeds of my house use the name “Ruette des Villocqs”. I don’t mind it in the singular version but it makes sense to use its correct Guernsey-French name and I fully approve of the “change”.
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While I won’t comment on the merits or otherwise of the name change, clearly the process involved (imposed from on high without consultation) leaves a lot to be desired – so if you don’t like it, vote’em out at the next opportunity!
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I think the name change is actually quite nice, it demonstrates Guernsey’s heritage, although the parish douzaines will have quite a lot of work to do if they are going to change all Guernsey road names in the same manner (in SPP, how about L’Avenue de St-Julien and la rue du Fort??).
The problem with this story is how the douzaine voted in the change without even consulting local residents. I don’t know if they are obliged to or not, but I think it is probably reasonable that they should have done so – there is a Royal Court procedure to challenge the decision making process of a public body (such as the douzaines) called judicial review, which may not overturn the decision but it will at least ensure that the douzainers have followed the correct process in reaching their determination on the matter. Perhaps disgruntled residents should look at that as an option?
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