It started as a simple proposal by the Prince of Wales to pay tribute to local war heroes by naming streets after them in his Dorset suburb of Poundbury.

The list included Victoria Cross winners and a trooper who survived the Charge of the Light Brigade.

The Prince, through his Duchy of Cornwall estate, also hoped to commemorate battles in which the local regiment, known affectionately as the Dorsets, took part. But the tribute has turned into a bitter row after all the Duchy’s suggestions were thrown out by local planners. Now the Duchy has reluctantly agreed to go back to the drawing board.

The snub has infuriated local veterans, who say that it is an insult to brave men and women who were prepared to give their lives for their country.

They included Trooper Thomas Warr, who rode with the 600 members of the Light Brigade into the “Valley of Death” at the Battle of Balaclava; Private Samuel Vickery, of the Dorsetshire Regiment, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for the daring rescue of a comrade under fire during an action in India in 1897; and Captain Lionel Queripel, who was seriously wounded at Arnhem in 1944 but stayed behind to help to cover the retreat of his men.

Members of Dorchester Town Council’s planning committee preferred, instead, to have the streets named after farms owned by the Duchy of Cornwall estate.

Fiona Kent-Ledger, the chairman of the planning committee, said: “We just suggested to the Duchy that we didn’t think they were suitable names for Poundbury. The Duchy came to us when the development first started, asking us about what we thought of street names. They came up with the idea of using Duchy estates and farms as names and we thought that was very fitting.

“Because of this we didn’t think it was suitable to now put up names associated with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment in Poundbury.”

She added: “It is not for political reasons. It is just trying to be practical about where names are used because once they are there, they are there forever.”

She said that no vote had been taken because it was obvious that everyone was in agreement.

Derek Julian, a former Dorset regiment soldier, who fought in Korea and proposed the names to the Duchy, said: “This decision has brought shame on Dorchester. The council has insulted the regiment and veterans are appalled.

“Friends of the Dorset regiment were delighted that Prince Charles had shown such an interest in naming streets after incidents in the regiment’s history.” Stella Jones, another councillor who opposed the suggestions, said: “We just think they should carry on with the Duchy farm names as before. I have no idea if they will listen but the Duchy has tended to listen to us in the past.” A spokeswoman for the Duchy of Cornwall said: “It was a decision for the council to make and it is not something the Duchy would ignore. We will submit new names in due course.”

Richard Webber, visiting professor of geography at University College London, said: “If you go back to the 1880s, streets would get their names from local heroes. We seem to have shied away from naming streets after people these days.

We get far fewer now than we used to. Politicians don’t have as much cache and there’s less deference to royalty.

“Whilst we’re happy to give our children the names of celebrities, they’re often so flimsy that you don’t want a lasting relic to them like a street name.”

Men of war

Private Samuel Vickery, of the 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment who was awarded the Victoria Cross for the rescue of a comrade under enemy fire in India in 1897

Trooper Thomas Warr, who died in Dorchester in 1916 aged 87, was one of the last survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade when the British cavalry was cut to pieces by Russian guns during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Old Tom died penniless in Dorchester in 1916 and was soon forgotten but his grave was refurbished before a special ceremony by his old regiment last year

Seaman Joseph Kellaway, a Dorset-born Royal Navy boatswain, won the Victoria Cross in the Crimea in 1855 after taking on 50 Russians almost single-handed. He landed in a small boat on the shores of the Sea of Azov with orders to burn some haystacks and a farm building. Within minutes Kellaway and four seamen from HMS Wrangler were surrounded by soldiers. Despite a furious onslaught of musket fire Kellaway, 29, went to the aid of two wounded comrades and held off the Russians until his powder ran dry. Kellaway, was presented with the newly instituted Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at a ceremony in Hyde Park

Captain Lionel Queripel, of the 10th Parachute Battalion, was wounded in the face and arms by withering German fire during nine hours of fierce fighting at Arnhem in 1944. He was awarded a posthumous VC for fighting on with hand grenades and a revolver to cover the retreat of his men. He was not seen alive again

Captain Gerald O’Sullivan won the VC for leading an attack on a Turkish trench during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. He was killed two months later

Sarah Sands was a troop ship which caught fire in the Indian Ocean in 1857. Queen Victoria honoured the Dorsets who helped to fight the blaze

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