Blake memorial heads Auckland City Council agenda

By ANNE BESTON

One of the first items on the Auckland City Council agenda this year will be to decide how yachting hero Sir Peter Blake should be remembered by the city.

Of the three options discussed late last year, a statue of Sir Peter is beginning to look the most likely memorial.

Auckland Mayor John Banks said he liked the idea but it would need the support of the council.

"We want to take people with us on something like this. If we haven't got goodwill at the council it's not going to fly."

Mr Banks said he would like to see the statue placed in a prominent position at the Viaduct Harbour before the America's Cup regatta started in a year. "Part of the contract to build it would be that it is completed by the end of the year."

Renaming the Viaduct Basin after Sir Peter would be difficult because Team NZ had naming rights to the basin and had allocated them to American Express.

"That might be something we just have to leave for a while."

Mr Banks said the third memorial option, naming an education scholarship after Sir Peter, was probably for the Government to decide.

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Peter Blake, 1948-2001