SIR Roger Bannister’s monumental sub-four minute mile could be celebrated by naming a city ward after him.

Boundary changes to the 21 of the city council’s 24 wards are set to be confirmed soon and could be adopted in less than two years.

Today is the last day that residents’ views on the plans are being welcomed by the Local Government Boundary Commission.

As part of changes to the St Clement’s ward, it could soon contain the Iffley Road track where Sir Roger completed a mile in three minutes and 59.4 seconds in 1954.

As a result, city councillors have proposed that it is named Bannister ward.

Current St Clement’s councillor Tom Hayes said: “People obviously see St Clement’s as a very identifiable community but hope that we can identify an Oxford hero in this way.”

A city council working group said a name change from St Clement’s to Bannister would ‘avoid confusion (with the current ward) and acknowledge’ Sir Roger’s ‘historic race’.

The world-famous athlete, who was a celebrated neurologist and he worked as master of Pembroke College from 1985 until 1993, died in March.

Oxford resident Hugo Glover, 28, said: “I am pleased to see Roger Bannister being remembered.”

He added that it was a positive thing to have successful people’s names introduced into place names.

Full-time mum Margaret Richards, 42, said she hoped more names were adopted because it helped children learn about successful people from Oxford.

Other proposed boundary changes would see new wards Donnington and Bartlemas introduced in East Oxford.

But other concerns come from a resident in North Oxford, who worries that the creation of a new Cutteslowe ward could make it more difficult for communities to stay together.

Suzanne McIvor said she was opposed to Banbury Road being used as a dividing line for the new ward, claiming that the A40 acts as a partition instead. She said she would prefer to remain part of Wolvercote ward.

The Harbord Road Area Residents’ Association member said: “The main concern is we are no longer going to be in the same area as our neighbourhood plan. It really is not a good fit.”

The final recommendation from the commission will be announced in October.

Some wards contain far more voters than others and the commission is seeking to iron out these differences with its work.

The three wards that would remain untouched by the proposals are Hinksey Park, Marston and Rose Hill.

Work on the plans started in January, when a public consultation on new ward boundaries began. That ran until April.

Then in June, the public consultation on draft recommendations was launched.

The final recommendations will be published in October, ahead of parliamentary approval before they are used in the city council elections in May 2020.

A previous review on the boundaries for Oxford’s wards was undertaken in 2000.

To take part in the consultation today, visit lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/south-east/oxfordshire/oxford