Flat Bush insulted by 'Ormiston' bid

Some feel the name Flat Bush has unsavoury connotations. Picture / Dean Purcell

Otara residents have taken offence at the latest attempt to change the name of a new suburb to avoid associations with the area's poorer residents.

Otara Employment Development Trust chairman Len Brown said the bid to change the name of Flat Bush to "Ormiston" was "a slap in the face" for Otara.

Otara Community Board acting chairwoman Mary Gush, a Flat Bush resident who has lived in the area for 43 years, said her board wanted to keep the name Flat Bush for historical reasons.

"I've always known the area as Flat Bush," she said.

Manukau City Council decided on Thursday night to hold a public consultation over the name of a proposed new town of 40,000 people, which will extend east of the present suburb of Flat Bush from Chapel Rd to Murphys Rd and beyond.

Both Flat Bush School Rd and Ormiston Rd, which is named after a local farming family, run through the proposed development.

The Botany Community Board, representing the area just north of the site, wants a different name for the new town to avoid confusion with the existing suburb west of Chapel Rd.

Its chairman, Michael Williams, said real estate agents were reluctant to use the name Flat Bush because buyers associated it with Otara.

Mr Brown said he also favoured a different name for the new town, but he objected to Mr Williams' slight on Otara.

"This sort of stuff really drives community support right out of the water. It does nothing at all for the building of strong communities," he said.

"We need people in other communities across the city to reflect on the fact that the Otara community is going through this present challenge with its youth."

A write-in poll last month by the Eastern Courier received 104 replies supporting the name Ormiston against five for Flat Bush.