Napier City Council runs Roll of Honour workshops

Napier RSA president John Purcell speaks at the first Roll of Honour public workshop held at the Napier RSA. Photo/Warren Buckland

After months of controversy over Napier's Roll of Honour plaques, two of three workshops on the issue took place yesterday.

Napier City Council is holding the workshops to update people about the Napier War Memorial project, and to assist with developing a Roll of Honour.

The focus of each workshop is the creation of a new Roll of Honour, to be housed beside the Napier Conference Centre at the site of the Floral Clock.

Napier City Council's strategic Maori adviser, Charles Ropitini, said the current Roll of Honour plaques, which were removed before a refurbishment of the centre, contained omissions and errors.

"These workshops are the first step in the process of correcting some fairly serious inaccuracies. It's important that the community is fully consulted on how we decide a criteria for the names to be included, and we welcome - and enjoy - the community's participation in this discussion," Mr Ropitini said.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said he appreciated and was interested in the wide variety of viewpoints on the criteria and naming conventions for the city's future Roll of Honour.

"I felt there were some good suggestions. This is a rare opportunity to correct any errors and omissions with the help of skilled researchers and specialists. What matters now is how we collate that information – along with the opinions we gather at the two other workshops we're holding – and present it to council."

"We had a very large, engaged crowd in Taradale who provided some excellent feedback and food for thought. There was some very positive feeling along with the inevitable criticism and it was really heartening to see those out in support."

Mr Dalton noted that a motion the council remove the name Napier Conference Centre and replace it with Napier War Memorial Centre was tabled by one member of the public, Alan Rhodes.

"Mr Rhodes leads a small, committed, vocal group who have made their point clearly. Their view, along with the views and voices of other members of the community will be carefully considered by council."

Information from the workshops will be collated and presented to the council for consideration.

• The final public Roll of Honour workshop is at the Greenmeadows East Community Hall at 5.30pm today.