ILLUSTRIOUS people and places from Caterham's past are to be among the road names for a 161-home complex in the town.
Work began in November on the major development scheme off Coulsdon Road, with the construction project due to last almost two years.
The former Oaklands healthcare site was occupied by St Lawrence's mental hospital until it closed in 1994.
Campaigners, including Caterham on the Hill Parish Council and local councillors Jeremy and Eithne Webster, have proposed that figures from the site's past should be included in the future housing estate.
Now Tandridge District Council, in conjunction with developers Berkeley Homes, has drawn up a provisional list of names for the roads to be constructed at the new Oak Grove development.
These include:
Gibson Way – to be named after Samuel Gibson, a Battle of Waterloo survivor and hospital patient who is buried in St Mary's Cemetery, Caterham.
Sylvester Mews – Peter Sylvester was a medical administrator at the hospital. He died in 2000.
Mosley Mews – Emma Mosley was the hospital's first matron, in 1870.
Firmin Place – Doreen Firmin was the hospital's first woman physician superintendent, from 1951 to 1959.
Holland Park East/Holland Park West – Holland House was a community home for hospital patients.
Mrs Webster said: "I am delighted that nearly all the names suggested by me and Jeremy have been accepted.
"Most of the suggestions have a connection with the hospital."
She said the original road names suggested by Berkeley Homes were largely "bland and meaningless", with little or no connection to the town's healthcare heritage.
Severely disabled Joey Deacon, who helped put Caterham on the national map back in the 1970s, is already commemorated in Deacon Way on the adjoining Hambledon Park estate.
Mr Deacon was featured on TV programmes including Blue Peter after his autobiography, Tongue Tied, was published. It sparked a fundraising appeal which raised £60,000 to build three bungalows for disabled people at St Lawrence's Hospital. The one where Joey lived – and died, aged 60, in 1981 – was called Holland House.
Mrs Webster said: "Joey was probably the town's most famous resident of his time. I hope the original plaque – which was attached to the soon-to-be-demolished Holland House but is now with Berkeley Homes – can be re-positioned somewhere nearby."
The council will consult with the public some time this month before finalising street names.
