Late push to get village added to library name

How the Greerton Library will look upon completion. Image/Supplied

A last-ditch effort is under way to add the word "village" into the name of Greerton's new library before it opens on July 15.

The Greerton Village Community Association has asked Tauranga City Council to revoke its decision to stick with the name Greerton Library.

"We fail to understand the council's stance on this issue," association spokeswoman Sally Benning told councillors yesterday during submissions on the council's 2016-17 Annual Plan.

She questioned the thoroughness of community consultation by the council, saying it was mentioned at a meeting of locals last December. They were there to voice opinions on the proposed traffic lights and were not really interested in anything else.

Mrs Benning compared the council's survey at the meeting, which backed the status quo, with the association's Facebook questionnaire that saw 86 per cent of the 64 respondents back the name Greerton Village Library.

"We don't believe the council listened to the people ... the online survey was a more accurate response to what the community actually felt."

Part of the council's argument in opposing the introduction of the word "village" into the name was that village was a marketing term used by the shopping centre.

Mrs Benning did not deny that "village" was a marketing tool but said it had also been used in documents like the 2006 Greerton Village Neighbourhood Plan where the word came up time and time again.

The next speaker, former city councillor Terry Molloy, said the vast majority of people living in and around Greerton wanted the name changed to Greerton Village Library.

The council voted 8-3 last month to retain the original name once the replacement $3.65 million library opened on July 15. Decisions on submissions to the Annual Plan will be made on May 24-26.