DEVELOPERS have left residents bemused after naming a new housing estate after the Spanish word for hazelnut.

Bellway Homes is set to build 200 homes on the former Betts Factory site, in Ipswich Road, Colchester.

Residents had hoped the estate’s name would commemorate a Lancaster bomber crew who crashed and died near the site in April 1944.

Instead, Bellway Homes has named the development Avellana Place.

Paul Smith, Lib Dem borough councillor for St John’s, said: “We are disappointed at the name because we were hoping for a commemoration of the Lancaster bomber that crashed near the site.

“That would have been very fitting. I have no idea what the hazelnut link with Colchester is.

Come to think of it, there isn’t much of a Spanish link either, so I’m not quite sure where they’ve got Avellana from.

“Perhaps they’ll have a rethink and think of something a bit more ‘Colchester’.”

SEE FRIDAY'S GAZETTE FOR THE FULL STORY AND FIND OUT WHY BELLWAY CHOSE 'AVELLANA'