Orange's Northern Distributor could be up for a name change to honour the late Cr Glenn Taylor

Orange City Council staff have been asked to explore the possibility of having the NDR renamed to honour former councillor Glenn Taylor, who died in January.

Cr Jeff Whitton, close friend of Mr Taylor, proposed the investigation at Tuesday night's council meeting as a matter arising from discussion on the reclassification of a number of Orange's major roads.

"A lot of people have come to me in the community to put this forward, there is a lot of interest in the community about it, a lot of community support," Cr Whitton said

"He ticks all the boxes. He was a 26-year veteran on council, he was the major instigator for the funding [for the NDR]

"It was his baby. If anyone deserves it, he's the prime candidate.

"People will argue about it, they might raise other people's names but they won't have had any direct impact on this particular parcel of road in Orange.

"I just believe it's the honourable thing to do."

Cr Whitton said Mr Taylor's standing in the Labor Party, for which he contested the state seat of Orange three times from 1995 to 2003, helped secure funding for stage 1 and 2 of the NDR.

"Rather than ambush the staff with a motion, I want to make sure this gets every chance of succeeding," Cr Whitton said. "Something like the Glenn Taylor Way ...,"

Control of the NDR has recently been transferred to the NSW Government with Cr Tony Mileto quizzing staff at Tuesday's meeting about when the transfer will take place.

OCC Technical Services director Ian Greenham told the meeting the date for the transfer was yet to be determined.

Council also adopted a recommendation to support the reclassification of a number of roads.

This follows the reclassification of the NDR from local to state in the priority round, effectively transferring its ownership and therefore its maintenance costs, to the NSW Government.

Proposed transfers are Forbes Road from the NDR to Molong Road changing from a state road to a local road while Burrendong Way from the NDR to Molong Road will also go from a state road to a local road.

The Mitchell Highway from the southern connection onto the NDR to the northern connection, which includes Bathurst road and Summer Street will go from state to regional, giving Council more control over Orange's main street.

Another round of assessments are invited up to February 28 with OCC applying to have several more roads reclassified. These include the Southern Feeder Road, from Bathurst Road to Forest Road and the yet to be constructed section from Forest Road to Woodward Street, which will go from local road classification to a regional road.

Also proposed for reclassification from local to regional roads are Woodward Street (from Summer St to the railway line), Clergate Road (to the local government area boundary) and Huntley Road and Aerodrome Road (from the Southern Feeder Road to Forest Road).

The advantage of reclassification is funding, with regional roads under the care of council but eligible for funding contributions for maintenance and upgrading from the state government.

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