RESIDENTS living in Stalin Road, Colchester, have overwhelmingly stated they do not wish to change the name of their road.

Debate has raged over in the County Standard over whether the name of the road should be changed from that of the Russian dictator.

Colchester MP Bob Russell decided to carry out a poll to gauge the feelings of the residents at the centre of the discussion.

He found only four households said they wanted to change the name which was given to the road when the estate was built in 1948.

A total of 74 households were contacted of which 30 responded.

Those who wanted to change the name totalled just four while those who said they did not want to change it totalled 26.

Mr Russell said: "Every few years someone says the road name should be changed because Stalin was a mass killer, which is true.

"But these roads are named after the Allied War Leaders. A recent letter in the Essex County Standard challenged me to get the name changed, so I thought the best thing to do was to ask residents - and their overwhelming verdict is they do not want to change the name of their road.

"I respect their decision, and hope that this is now the end of the matter."

For more on this and other stories, see this week's Essex County Standard.