Dundee councillors are being advised not to change the name of a historic city street to Nablus Place.
The city development committee will next week be encouraged to mark Dundee’s link with the Palestinian town in the naming of a street in the technology park.
The council was asked to change the name of Cross Row in Dundee University’s campus to Nablus Place by the Dundee University Action Palestine Society.
The twinning was forged in 1980. The move was controversial at the time but Dundee has since been praised for its foresight in drawing attention to the plight of the West Bank dwellers.
Dundee’s links with Orleans and Wurtzburg are marked, but the Nablus twinning has not so far been honoured by a street name.
And an individual objection was received, not about the principle but about losing an established street name in Cross Row with a long history.
West End Community Council objected on grounds of there being existing addresses in Cross Row, including Dundee University Chaplaincy, but had no problem with calling a Dundee street Nablus in recognition of the twinning.
City archivist Iain Flett investigated the history of the area and discovered that in 1857 Small’s Wynd and Park Wynd had become established and the interlinking street became Cross Row.
Dundee Nablus Twinning Association supported the proposal saying it would be consistent with the precedent set by the council when it named Orleans Place and Wurtzburg Court and would be an appropriate way to recognise more than 32 years of twinning.
Dundee University Chaplaincy made no comment, stressing it was multi-cultural and welcomed all students.
Director of city development Mike Galloway will tell his committee on Monday that “as the objections are seen as valid and received within the consultation period, the committee is asked not to approve the renaming of Cross Row to Nablus Place.”
The proposal to mark the Nablus twinning in a Dundee street name was welcomed during the consultation, however, and an opportunity to do so has arisen with the link between Tom McDonald Avenue and Mariner Drive in the technology park.
If councillors agree not to rename Cross Row as Nablus Place, he proposed that the public be consulted on the technology park suggestion.
Andrew McBride, chairman of West End Community Council, was delighted “commonsense has prevailed”.
Rows are historic street names in Dundee and he thought it would be a shame to lose one.
He continued: “I think having a street in Dundee called Nablus is a good idea and I’m actually disappointed in the suggestion that it should be used for a link road in the technology park.
“I believe it deserves a more prominent location and I personally think one of the new boulevards on the waterfront would be a more fitting choice.”