Plans to number named properties on a Wyberton road have been scrapped, after residents opposed changing their addresses.
Coun Richard Austin was aiming to get numbers put in place for 56 homes along West End Road, as he said it would make it easier to or emergency services and delivery drivers to find them.
But after discovering that people would have to give up the historic names of their houses if they wanted to adopt a number, he said he could see ‘no way forward’ with the plan.
Coun Austin, who represents Wyberton on Boston Borough Council, said: “Every day there is confusion with delivery people stopping and asking where something is, and nobody knows.
“I’ve had people along there asking for numbers, and they want it because of the practicalities, but they don’t realise the complications of effectively changing their address. It’s got to be either the number or the name. It can’t be both.”
He said he had not been aware that people would be unable to keep the house name if they adopted a number.
But West End Road resident Laura Connolly was against the plan in the first place as she said it would render names dating back many years meaningless.
She said: “As far as an official address it would become obsolete.
“The names would fade out, which is a shame.
“This old house has been sitting here for 200 years, and there are a lot which are older. They have always been called a name. It would be unnecessary to change it.
“You would lose the tradition and heritage.”
Despite the U-turn, Coun Austin said he thought something good had come out of the revelation.
He added: “It is an opportunity to say to all the residents, make sure you can read the house name from the road.
“It will make it easier.”