$100,000 Jean Batten sculpture for Rotorua

How many Jean Batten memorials does Rotorua need?

That is the question being raised after the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust's decision to commission a $100,000 sculpture in honour of the Rotorua-born aviator.

The sculpture will be another of many tributes in Rotorua, including a street, a square, an aviation scholarship, a mural, a plaque and a small sculpture honouring her achievements.

Other Batten tributes include an exhibition which ran for a year at Rotorua's Museum of Art and History and a memorial "fly-in" in 1999.

Rotorua district councillor Cliff Lee has questioned whether the sculpture is warranted and why the trust should be the one to finance it.

Though Miss Batten was born in Rotorua she moved to Auckland when she was 4 and never returned to the city to live.

Mr Lee said there were already plenty of tributes honouring Miss Batten and argued that the $100,000 should be put to better use.

"Jean Batten flew an aeroplane. She was a brave woman but nothing technical was achieved on her flight ... nothing spectacular."