Cambridge city council leader says he regrets following ‘bureaucratic guideline’ to remove punctuation from street signs

A council has been praised for its “sensible decision” to reverse a policy of banning apostrophes on street signs.

Cambridge city council faced criticism from self-declared defenders of grammar for its decision to remove punctuation in new road names, with some campaigners using marker pens to fill in apostrophes missing from signs.

The local authority claimed it was only following national guidelines that claimed punctuation could confuse emergency services.

Tim Bick, leader of the council, said an “executive decision” had now been taken to make clear that for future street names “we will not be obliged to avoid proper punctuation”.

He said: “After consulting with my colleague Tim Ward, executive councillor for planning, we decided we must call time on the great apostrophe debate.

“Councillor Ward has taken an executive decision to amend our street-naming policy to make clear that for future new street names in Cambridge we will not be obliged to avoid proper punctuation when it is required by the relevant name. More.

See: The Guardian

See also: Campaigners wield marker pens in war against punctuation cull

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