New home for Napier war memorial items on council agenda

An artist's impression of what the council could approve - that Napier's memorial be located at the floral clock site, and the War Memorial Hall be referenced outside the building. Photo / Supplied

The emotional saga over Napier's memorial items is moving forward, with the Napier City Council set to make a decision on their future home tomorrow.

There was public outcry about the removal of the Eternal Flame, Roll of Honour, and the "War Memorial'' title from Napier Conference Centre during its multimillion-dollar redevelopment this year.

Many felt the items' removal was not consulted on, leading to "a great deal of discomfort with the community".

The council has consulted on three possible Marine Parade locations for the memorial, and at a meeting tomorrow will be asked to formally identify the floral clock site as the new location.

Napier mayor Bill Dalton said the matter was progressing well, given putting the memorial back inside the building was not an option.

"The preferred site is as close as possible to the conference centre," he said.

The floral clock - gifted to Napier by A.B. Hurst - was the preference for many, including the memorial working group, the hall's original architect Guy Natusch, and shown through public feedback.

The other two Marine Parade options were the sun dial and the "Tennyson Link''.

To address community concern the building's original name could be returned to it with the council asked to approve naming the ballroom the "War Memorial Hall", and record the history of the building in the foyer.

"There's been general approbation that the original part of the building, which is the round, iconic Guy Natusch part of the building, could be renamed," Mr Dalton said.

The council could also approve restoring this name to the outside of the centre directly above the new memorial site, although Napier Conference Centre would still be used for branding.

This would mean the building's original name and the memorial site could "tie in together", Mr Dalton said.

Last week Napier resident Selwyn Hawthorne delivered to the council a petition with more than 840 signatures requesting the memorial items and name be returned to the site.

The council's moves tomorrow appeared to deliver on at least part of this, Mr Hawthorne said - returning the two memorial items to the general area where they first were.

But he thought this was just the start of putting things right, with restoring the name possibly being a long process.

Napier Returned and Services Association president John Purcell could not be reached yesterday. The RSA chief executive, Dorothy Paki, said she thought everyone would be glad this decision was coming before the council, so the matter could be moved forward.

The council had decided to remove the memorial from the centre because people had not been able to access it when there were functions at the centre, there was confusion about the centre's true purpose, and it was deemed inappropriate to have something of the memorial's gravitas in the same location as "boozy functions".

Although many had advocated for the items to return to the centre, manager visitor experiences Sally Jackson wrote in a paper before the council that this was not an option, based on the cost of doing so, the commercial use of the facility, and space in the foyer.

If the council approves the floral clock option tomorrow, the next stage will be creating designs for the site.

About $50,000 had been allocated for the relocation of the war memorial. Additional funding would be allocated to the project, once the final design was selected.

The floral clock would be relocated to the sunken gardens. The Hurst family had been consulted and had agreed with that.

Tomorrow's council meeting will be held at 3.30pm at Napier Girls High School.