RESIDENTS in Birstall are being asked to come forward with suggestions for the name of a new street to be built in the village.

Kirklees Council is asking people to put forward names for the road, which will be off Fieldhead Lane on land situated next to Jed’s Garage.

The patch of scrubland was formerly a railway between Heaton Lodge and and Leeds, which was shut in the 1960s, and is now to become housing.

People - particularly those who live locally - are being invited to suggest names for the new street, but the Council has said that in general names should not duplicate or closely resemble existing street names in the area.

Streets are also not usually names after living people or those who have lived in the recent past, and there is preference often given for names with local links.

The area has close links to the Brontes; Fieldhead Lane named after the manor house in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Shirley, which was inspired by nearby Oakwell Hall.

Every street on the nearby Fieldhead Estate is inspired by the Brontes, with roads names including Branwell, Thornton, Haworth and more.

Opposite the proposed site is King’s Park while further down the road is Highfield Drive, and the flora-inspired cul-de-sac Foxglove Road.

Birstall is also the birthplace of acclaimed scientist Joseph Priestley - born further up Fieldhead Lane - who discovered oxygen and has a statue in the village centre.

The deadline for suggestions for the street is Wednesday, August 18, and can be sent to street.naming@kirklees.gov.uk