Napier memorial items look unlikely to return to old home

It appears unlikely the eternal flame will return to the Napier Conference Centre. Photo / File

Although Napier's war memorial items could be returning to Marine Parade, reinstating them in their old home is not on the Napier City Council's "list of options".

Today the third meeting of the War Memorial Project Group will be held, after months of public outcry over the removal of the eternal flame, roll of honour plaques, and "war memorial" title from the Napier Conference Centre during its multimillion-dollar redevelopment.

The Eternal Flame will not return to the Napier Conference Centre.

The project group was formed to find a new location for the war memorial items. It includes local Returned and Services Association (RSA) representatives, a historian, a local architect, some Napier City Council councillors, the mayor and council staff.

Although the group's meetings are not open to the public, the council has said today's meeting will discuss three potential locations for a new memorial on Marine Parade.

This has narrowed from 12 possible contenders discussed at the last meeting.

Council manager visitor experiences Sally Jackson said that today the group would be looking at each location's advantages, or disadvantages.

"We are moving forward with developing our three new concepts, all of which include the eternal flame, for the three different Marine Parade locations," she said.

Concepts were being created for each site which would be presented to the working committee before being made public.

A Marine Parade location was the preference of the Napier and Taradale RSAs - but may not please those who had advocated for the items' return to the conference centre.

Yesterday Ms Jackson said the conference centre was not currently "on our list of options", although "the name of the conference centre is still on the table".

The council agreed to change the name of the building last year to avoid confusion with potential clients over the centre's purpose.

At present the council says the two physical memorial items are being stored at its' Onekawa depot - with the flame kept alight - until a new location is found.

Concerns about the flame's condition had arisen after the council declined multiple Hawke's Bay Today requests to photograph the items, but the council last week provided photos which showed the flame alight.

Their new location would have to meet certain criteria including safety of visitors, security of the items, the ability to host dawn services, able to be stumbled upon without making a specific journey, and having a degree of separation to enable a memorial place to be defined without being confused with other places.

The council plans to hold a public meeting where new memorial options will be presented "and openly discussed". The initial design concepts will be made available before this.