Council Records
Records staff at the District Council hold some files containing information on streets and reserves. These are probably of most value for street names of the recent past i.e. about the last 50 years. You can contact the Council directly or go through the staff in the Research Centre.
Council Roading staff have also developed a spreadsheet on the origin of street names and places in New Plymouth District. This spreadsheet is loaded on the Council Intranet which Puke Ariki staff can access for you.
Until about the 1970's, Council policy was that street names should have some connection to the City of Plymouth in England or be named after areas in the West Country (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset). This reflected the predominance of early settlers from this region. Hence street names such as Doone, Tavistock, and Lynmouth. Since then developers of subdivisions have been allowed to choose names for streets, with the proviso that they are geographically appropriate and are of a practical length to include on a road name sign or map. Since 2000 a new road name policy stipulates that tangata whenua must be taken into consideration.