Lara Croft is lined up for Derby inner ring road immortality

HISTORICAL heroes, sporting stars and fantasy figures have inspired suggestions for names along Derby's inner ring road.

Derby City Council appealed for ideas for sections of the road being built as part of the Connecting Derby scheme.

The new road is being constructed in two sections, Osmaston Road to Burton Road and Burton Road to Stafford Street. Each section needs a name.

In the first month since the appeal was launched, the council has received dozens of suggestions.

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Pairs of names have included Florence Nightingale Way and Lara Croft Way – Florence Nightingale lived near Matlock and helped design Derbyshire Royal Infirmary and the popular computer game heroine was created in Derby.

The historical figure influence continued with Joseph Wright Way and John Flamsteed Way, after the Derby artist and the English astronomer, born in Denby.

Others have suggested Rolls-Royce Way and Crown Derby Way after two of the city's main employers.

The Rolls-Royce theme continued with Merlin Way and Griffin Way after famous engines produced by the firm.

John Forkin, director of Marketing Derby, said he was in favour of something modern. "If you think about roads we have, like Sir Frank Whittle Road and St Alkmunds Way, roads can say something about where the city has come from and what it is proud of being associated with," he said.

"We have waited a long time for this road and we need to give it a name and the right name. Personally I would be in favour of something that projects something new and modern about the city so I quite like the Lara Croft idea."

There have been some more unusual and off-the-wall suggestions for the road names.

They include Dog Woof Lane, which one contributor thought should be the name of the stretch of road which will cut through Abbey Street.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "The suggestion was made because of the sound of dogs people can hear barking from the RSPCA centre in Abbey Street."

Some residents have seen the road-naming exercise as a chance to honour our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Others said one of the stretches should be named simply Woofers Way to mark the local regiment – formerly the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters but now the 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment.

The council will ask the public to vote on a short list to find the final two names.

E-mail your suggestions for each stretch to samantha.whit worth@derby.gov.uk before August 28.