A £1 million medical centre has become embroiled in a row over the name of the street where it's sited - before the doors have even opened.

Wilsden Village Society members are angry after being asked to volunteer suggestions for the road only to have Bradford Council impose its own choice of name.

Members wanted to call it Bower Field in recognition of two elderly sisters, Kathleen and Irene Bower, who for many years owned the land where the new Wilsden Medical Centre has been built.

The high-tech surgery is on a site adjoining Wellington Road, Farndale Road and Crooke Lane. It will replace the Townfield Surgery and is due to open on Monday, July 10.

Society chairman Martin Harrison said he received a letter from the council asking for suggestions for a name.

When Bower Field was agreed upon the council asked him to obtain permission from the ladies. When he did so he found that it had already been given the name of Ling Bob Court. He said: "I'm disappointed. After writing to the Bowers I find three weeks later it was going to be called something else!"

Society member Norman Barwick said: "We were asked if we could come up with a name and obtained permission from the ladies who thought it was very honourable of the society to consider their views.

"I think it's ridiculous, it's a waste of time. The council has just said we can have our say but it will do what it wants. Why ask for something and then not act on our ideas?"

He was backed by resident, Frances Graham, of Crooke Lane, who said: "There are quite a lot of people upset by this."

A Bradford Council building control spokesman said: "Unfortunately the name suggested by Wilsden Village Society arrived too late for it to be considered.

"We asked the Society for suggestions in January but by the its response came in March we had been forced to provide a name to enable the gas and electricity companies to connect their supply.

"They will not do this without a full postal address so one was picked to assist the developer."

Dr Jan Lee, of Townfield Surgery, said: "I think there was a suggestion from the village society that the road should be known as Bower Field. However, we got feedback to say that because it involved the name of a person it couldn't be processed so quickly.

"It meant real practical difficulties and would have meant that there was a real chance we would not have had an address or postcode - an unsatisfactory situation for our patients."