Residents who have been living in Triq id-Dawr in Mosta for four decades woke up one day last week to discover they don’t live in Triq id-Dawr anymore.

The residents were surprised to discover that the local council had changed the name of their street to Triq Freddie Micallef, the Labour minister responsible for industry, labour and social services, and later agriculture in the 1970s and 1980s. He died in 2011.

Resident Tony Vella is now collecting signatures for a petition against the decision. Pointing to a lack of consultation, he says there is no historical justification for the change. Freddie Micallef already has a monument in a Mosta square and that was homage enough, Vella believes.

The petition quotes subsidiary legislation on street naming that says a local council cannot change a street name “unless a valid reason for such change subsists”.

Residents argue that the neighbourhood’s roads were all historically named after terminology relating to work in a flour mill because the housing estate is situated next to Victor Calvanga Garden, which houses an old mill.

Dawr, in fact, refers to the small, spherical remnants of flour that fall off during the production of bread. And the names of all the neighbouring roads refer to different parts of the mill’s machinery and its engineering.

It makes no sense, the residents argue, to have a single street among them bearing the name of a politician.

Freddie Micallef was a Labour minister between 1974 and 1987.

But Mosta mayor Chris Grech said the change enjoyed unanimous support among councillors.

The street, which runs through a government housing estate, was renamed in honour of a former minister who had helped many people with social housing, he said.

Replying to Vella in a Facebook group for Mosta residents, Grech said many politicians in several localities enjoyed not just a bust or a monument but also a street named after them.

However, residents, many elderly, also complain the decision will cause them the hassle of having to change their address on their ID cards and at several official entities such ARMS, Transport Malta and the health department, as well as with service providers and insurance companies.

“Who is going to help the elderly change their addresses on ID cards and make sure hospital appointments are not mixed up? Will the mayor drive them to change the address one by one?” Vella asked.

In answer to questions, Grech said the council was in discussions with Identity Malta with a view to sending a representative to the local council or the home for the elderly to facilitate the process of changing people’s addresses.

The streets were originally named after objects and machinery related to the production process of an old flour mill situated just outside the neighbourhood. Photo: Mark Laurence Zammit

The residents are also confused about whether the name change applies to the whole street or part of it.

The council initially put up a new sign halfway down the street and another sign at one end of it, leading residents to understand that the new name would only apply to a section of the street.

But on Friday they found that another ‘Triq Freddie Micallef’ sign had been put up at the other end and a plaque that once read ‘Triq id-Dawr’ had been taken down. The street now has ‘Freddie Micallef’ signs at both ends.

“So now it appears that the entire street will change its name to Freddie Micallef,” Vella said. “We’re confused.”

“I’m knocking on doors to collect signatures and I’m being met with blank faces of residents who didn’t even know their street name had changed.”

By Friday, the majority of the street’s residents had joined the petition.

“Every single household that opened its door this morning agreed to sign,” he said.

Grech explained the entire street was now named Triq Freddie Micallef except for a short stretch set apart by a parking area, which would retain the name Triq id-Dawr.

“The local council has the right to propose names for new streets and rename existing streets,” Grech told Times of Malta.

“The Street Naming Committee then evaluates our request.”

He said the council had proposed that only part of the street be renamed but the committee decided on the entire street except for that short stretch.

Residents would be informed of the change after it appeared in the Government Gazette, he added.

But Vella is adamant: “Some elderly people have been living here since the street was first opened more than 45 years ago. They don’t need this now.”

Triq Freddie Micallef runs through a housing estate.