War hero and council pioneer to be immortalised in tarmac as two new Preston roads are named

Victoria Cross winner William Young and Preston's first-ever lady councillor Avice Pimblett are to be immortalised in tarmac when the East-West Link Road and the Cottam Link Road are both opened his year.

The two roads will link up with the Preston Western Distributor (PWD) - named Edith Rigby Way after the famous suffragette from Winckley Square - in a £207m transport scheme taking traffic from Blackpool Road, Lea to a new junction on the M55 motorway.

The East-West Link will be known as William Young Way and the Cottam Link will be called Avice Pimblett Way.

All three roads are being built to cater for a car boom created by thousands of new homes currently under construction in the north of the city.

They come just six years after another VC winner from Preston was honoured with the opening of James Towers Way - the Broughton Bypass.

And over the river in South Ribble, it is less than four years since since the opening of John Horrocks Way (Penwortham Bypass), named in honour of a key player in the textile industry in Preston.

The two latest names have been recommended by Coun Freddie Bailey, Preston's cabinet member for environment and community safety. Council members have until Thursday to object by calling the decision in for further discussion. So far no-one has.

World War One hero Private William Young won his VC, the country's highest gallantry award, for saving the life of his sergeant, who lay wounded in the open near Foncquevillers, France. Despite coming under heavy enemy fire and being hit twice - one bullet shattered his jaw and the other lodged in his chest - he still managed to get the wounded man back to safety.

Reports at the time said he then calmly walked off to the a medical dressing station in the nearby village to have how wounds treated.

He spent four months in hospital and was later celebrated in his home town with a reception on the Flag Market, attended by thousands of townsfolk. His wife and nine children were there to see him honoured, but he died in hospital in Aldershot while undergoing another operation on his jaw - tragically before he was able to receive his medal from the King.

Avice Margaret Pimblett JP, OBE, was born in 1879 and became Preston's first woman councillor, first woman alderman and first woman Mayor. She also had a major impact on the lives of Prestonians, concerning herself particularly with women and children’s social, educational and welfare issues.

A blue plaque marking her achievements was unveiled in November on the house in Winckley Square where she lived from 1919 until her death in 1963.

She laid the foundation stone of a new maternity wing at the old Preston Royal Infirmary in July 1934 after raising a fifth of the building's cost at a three-day fete in Avenham and Miller Parks.