Villagers are furious over plans to change the name of a key road.

People in Knowle have hit out at the "very secretive" move to rename a long stretch of Knowle Road to Burnstall Street.

Just a short stretch of the road closest to the village will keep its name.

The change is due to 6,000 homes being built at Welborne Garden Village with master-developer Buckland Development building houses across both sides of Knowle Road. 

Lorraine Rappe heads up the Knowle Residents' Association. She said the decision to change the name was "unnecessary".

She said: “It would have been nice to have been told in advance.

“[Buckland] have been bringing forward changes piecemeal in planning applications and so it is very difficult to keep in touch with everything they are changing.

“This name is just not in keeping with a semi-rural area. Apparently Burnsall Street comes from a piece of land owned by Southwick estates, the owner being the Buckland developer Mark Thistlewaite!”

A spokesman for Buckland said it put a number of names forward to Fareham Borough Council based on the area's history.

Wickham and Knowle parish councillor Craig Manuel said: “I am staggered by the decision to change the name of the Knowle Road. It is not surprising residents are unhappy when they see plans to remove the road from history. 

“The removal of 30 acres of trees and hedgerows along the Knowle Road and now the removal of its name are both considered poor and unnecessary decisions taken without any regard to the residents of Knowle village.”

A Fareham council spokesman said: “The new road layout for Welborne means the existing Knowle Road will be split into three distinct sections.

"The western section will remain Knowle Road and the remaining sections will be re-named. In time Dashwood Avenue will become the preferred route from Knowle to A32 via the new village centre.”

The spokesman said there is no requirement for a public consultation when making changes to road names.  

“The council as the statutory naming and numbering authority follows the national codes of practice,” said the spokesman.

"This prevents the council from choosing similar road names that have the potential to cause confusion for services and/or visitors trying to find an address."