THE go-ahead has been given for Wellington to pay a lasting and highly visible tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Town councillors want to rename as ‘Queen Elizabeth Way’ the main B3187 Taunton Road into the town from Chelston roundabout.
Cabinet Office permission to use the Queen’s name was given some time ago, but the council has only recently received approval from a majority of businesses and residents with Taunton Road addresses.
Now, the way has been cleared for renaming the road as a permanent memorial for the Queen, who died in September, 2022.
The town council is in talks with Somerset Council over the legal process for installing new road name signs, which it expects will only take a few weeks.
Lord Lieutenant of Somerset Mohammed Saddiq, who is the monarch’s representative in the county, is likely to be invited to help unveil the ‘Queen Elizabeth Way’ signs.
Wellington Mayor Cllr Marcus Bar told the Wellington Weekly: “I am so proud to think that we can pay this tribute to Her Majesty, who was our Queen for 70 years.
“Wellington people turned out in their thousands to attend events we organised when the Queen was celebrating her Platinum Jubilee, only a few months before she died.
“Having shown such tremendous public support for Her Majesty, I know our community will be fully supportive of this tribute.”
The renaming was originally proposed by town Cllr John Thorne, who said: “I am so pleased that we now have the permissions we need to do this.
“Many, many residents like myself will have grown up never knowing any other monarch in their lifetimes than the Queen, until her sad death.
“I think it is a very fitting way for our community to show how the Queen was so treasured by us all.”
The town council is also planning to reinstate some missing welcome to Wellington signs, with the new signage promoting the town’s affinity with the Blackdown Hills National Landscape, one of which will be sited close to Chelston roundabout where the first of the ‘Queen Elizabeth Way’ street nameplates will go.