For the past few decades Bega Valley Shire Council has had a list of pre-approved names to assist in its road-naming procedure. 

"This list originally contained names of war service men and women, which were supplied to council by the local RSL sub branches for use around the shire," a council spokesperson said.

They said in 2015 a new NSW Address Policy was adopted and as the pre-approved list of road names was almost exhausted, council began a public consultation process to seek suggestions from members of the community of names to be considered for road naming in the future based on the three categories of local Indigenous Australian heritage, early explorers, pioneers, settlers and historical figures, and natural environment, marine, flora and fauna.

"As a result of this process, only seven names were received from members of the public," they said.  

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"Given that only seven additional names were suggested by the public and an extensive list is required for future development within the shire (for the naming of unnamed roads and the possible renaming of existing roads), a list of road names was researched by staff in line with the 'natural environment, marine, flora or fauna' thematic category and suggested for pre-approval and reservation."  

There has been at least one case where a new name does not sit well with some from the community. 

A new road in Wolumla, which would be the main access to subdivided land off Mine Lane, may be called Hobbs Lane.

The name was proposed by the developer and was available on council's pre-approved list, but Nita Quinn of Bega said the proposal was "upsetting to a lot of people".

"All elderly people know the Hobbs belong in Bemboka," she said. 

She said that as the Hobbs family were known to have lived in Bemboka, the new lane in Wolumla should be named after a family closer to the town. 

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In a long list she and another long-time resident of the region drew up she proposed alternatives, saying some of the "very old names" of the town were Wrightson, Curran, Grealy, Chegwidden and Goward. 

The council spokesperson said the name Hobbs was suggested to council by the Bega RSL sub branch in 1995.

"It is in fact listed as being someone from the Bemboka area as outlined by your reader [Ms Quinn] and we intend to liaise with the developer regarding this name to see if they want to continue with its use," they said.