ISLANDERS could soon be strolling down ‘Rue Ivy Forster’, after a proposal to rename Halkett Street in celebration of Jersey’s first female politician was given the green light by the St Helier Roads Committee.
Trailblazing town Deputy Ivy Forster was elected to the States in 1948 and served until 1954.
The Roads Committee approved the change of name on Wednesday 9 August, which will be subject to a Parish Assembly vote.
Their decision coincides with plans to refurbish Halkett Street precinct and changes to the section between Beresford Street and Hilgrove Street, which has been earmarked for improvements since 2014.
The project, which had already been approved in principal by the committee, includes plans for new paving, street furniture and a decorative archway.
Budgeting challenges and various developments in the area have led to delays, but the parish is now seeking to push forward with the proposals with the goal of completing work by March next year.
Town centre and events manager Connor Burgher explained that the parish had been contacting businesses in the area about the designs and name change.
‘The support was fairly good – certainly for the scheme,’ he said, although he noted the volume of replies from businesses was ‘not high’.
‘[However] I’m fairly confident in the fact that Jersey is a small place and shopkeepers, business owners, generally do tend to talk to each other – especially if they have something like this to talk about,’ he added.
Who was Ivy Forster?
The sister of Louisa Gould, a woman deported to her death at Ravensbrück concentration camp after she was found to have harboured an escaped Russian slave worker.
In late May 1944, Mrs Forster was arrested by the Nazis for harbouring Russian prisoners of war after an Island resident had informed on her sister’s activities.
She escaped deportation because a doctor pretended she had tuberculosis, so that she was allowed to serve her sentence in St Helier’s Newgate Street prison.
After the Occupation, she was elected as a St Helier Deputy, becoming the first woman to serve in the States Assembly.
She served as Deputy until she lost her seat in the 1954 election.
She died in 1997, aged 90.
