Fiery council meeting sees new name proposed for former War Memorial Hall

An impression of how the renamed "War Memorial Napier Conference Centre" could look, above the floral clock site of the new memorial. Photo / Supplied

A Napier City Council committee have agreed to reinstate part of the original name of the War Memorial Hall to the Napier Conference Centre building.

Members of the public crowded into the Hawke's Bay Regional Council this afternoon to hear the council's Strategy and Infrastructure committee vote on a recommendation the building be renamed and branded the "War Memorial Napier Conference Centre".

However an amendment put forward saw the committee agree on a different name - the "Napier War Memorial Centre". This will go forward to the next full council meeting.

After being an emotive topic for the past year, today's meeting was fiery with chair Keith Price telling members of the public not to yell out at councillors on three occasions.

There was outcry last year when the centre, built in 1956 with public funding, was reopened in March after a multimillion-dollar redevelopment with the roll of honour plaques, Eternal Flame, and "War Memorial" title removed.

Today a large crowd of local residents, veterans, and RSA members gathered in the council chambers, with four Napier residents taking to the floor to share their opinion on the renaming of the building.

This included the War Memorial Hall's original architect, and veteran Guy Natusch who told councillors they were "not entirely to blame" as their predecessors had made the decisions which gradually turned the hall into the conference centre.

However he said he could not support the options put forward, as the funding required to have originally built the hall required it to be used for non-profit, community functions.

Instead he advocated the new name be 'War Memorial Centre', with 'community events and conferences' written below it on the building.

"This should be acceptable to the community," he said.

This name was echoed by Napier resident Craig Morley, who was ex Royal Air Force.

He told councillors he felt this title, the "popular public choice" should be added to the options as those put forward in the council paper had not been properly consulted on with the public.

"I strongly urge council to conscience vote the name 'War Memorial Centre'. Do the right thing," he said.

When it came time to discuss the recommendation, councillors spoke over each other before councillor Kirsten Wise recommended the proposed renamed title be the "Napier War Memorial Centre", which was quickly seconded by deputy mayor Faye White.

Applause sounded after passionate comments from Mrs Wise that the community needed to be listened to, and that while commercial activity was undertaken in the building it could not be the primary purpose.

If the full council meeting also votes to rename the building, a review of the building's brand would be needed.

It was proposed the centre be continued to be marketed as the Napier Conference Centre, and the facility branded on the outside to include the War Memorial title near the new memorial site.

A complete branding change, including marketing and promotion collateral, would be about $100,000. Just rebranding the building would have a "considerably lower" cost, and be reallocated from existing budgets.

Soon there will be another public meeting to provide updates on the final war memorial design concept, presentation on the criteria for the Roll of Honour and ensuring research project.

A focus on the public meetings had been defining eligibility criteria for the plaques, as it had been discovered there were a number of inaccuracies, and omissions in the roll of honour plaques.