THE Seth Ward Centre in Buntingford could be renamed for the second time. The Buntingford Civic Society propose to rename the centre, The Seth Ward Community Centre. They say visitors to the town, including the emergency services, will find the new name c

THE Seth Ward Centre in Buntingford could be renamed for the second time.

The Buntingford Civic Society propose to rename the centre, The Seth Ward Community Centre.

They say visitors to the town, including the emergency services, will find the new name confusing when they look at the two signs advertising the centre in Aspenden Road and on the A10, opposite the Railway pub.

Derek Cooper, chairman of the Buntingford Civic Society, said: "If we rename it the Seth Ward Community Centre, Seth Ward's name will be honoured and community will be incorporated which is an important aspect of the town. Also, visitors would benefit from existing directional signs that say community centre.

"I don't think there will be objections from the civic society and I can't imagine it will cause problems.

"The next stage is to get confirmation for this and then get it made, paid for and put up."

However, Councillor Pat Whittaker, chairman of the community centre, thinks it is a bad move.

He said: "Changing the name of the centre again isn't a good idea in my opinion.

"I called for the re-naming of the centre in September last year because we wanted a slight relaunch of the centre and to perpetuate the name of Seth Ward because it was dropped from Freman College.

"We wanted to lose the words 'community centre' because there's a slight stigma attached to them. And we're trying to attract people that would like to hold functions at the centre like wedding receptions."

Cllr Whittaker continued: "We have been calling the building the Seth Ward Centre in all correspondence and if the name is changed it will hold everything up.

"It will take months and months to get the sign up if this happens.

"I think once we've decided on a name, that's how it should rest.

"The name the Seth Ward centre was unanimously agreed on by the council last year and if we were to change the name for the second time, the matter would have to go through the town council all over again."

The sign is expected to cost several hundreds of pounds but the Civic Society say they will continue to sponsor the new sign in the form that's agreeable with the interested parties.