Former Napier mayor wants memorial back on waterfront

Former Napier mayor Barbara Arnott, shown here on the eve of stepping down, would like to see the memorial back on the waterfront. Photo / File

For former Napier mayor Barbara Arnott there was no question really where she would like to see the Roll of Honour and Eternal Flame - the memorials to the soldiers of the city who never came home.

"It has always been on the waterfront and that was where the people put it," she said.

"I would still like to see it there."

The Marine Parade site was the original place for the memorials, it attracted a lot of foot traffic, and had room for them.

Mrs Arnott, who is chairwoman of the Hawke's Bay branch of Historic Places Aotearoa, was critical of how the present council had handled the removal of the memorials.

"They should have told the people it was being taken away and they should have said where they were going to go - to give it some certainty.

"You never take something that important away without knowing where you are eventually going to put it."

Just where the memorial of names and the flame will eventually be based was still up in the air, and that, Mrs Arnott said, was not on.

"The issue is that Napier has been let down by there not being a strategy or a certainty about that memorial - rather than just put it away somewhere."

Talk of it being installed at Memorial Square was still just that - talk.

She felt the council had lost a sense of Napier.

"Where our heart is and what makes us tick - the whole of Napier should realise our history is the heart of the city.

"You must have a plan and strategy and ask people 'what do you think?'."

In terms of where the Historic Places Aotearoa stood the final decision was not theirs - it was ultimately up to the council.

What they, and the people of Napier did want, was for the memorials to survive, be accessible and fitting for those they represent.

And in her opinion that site was the waterfront - near where it had been laid out in the first place.