Erebus memorial will have to wait

Deciding if the national memorial designed for the 40th anniversary of the Erebus disaster will be built in a Parnell park now has to wait until after the local body elections.

The decision has been pushed back until November or December and will be made by the newly elected Waitemata¯ Local Board.

This has ramifications for the Government, which wanted to hold a sodturning ceremony in Dove-Myer Robinson Park next month on the 40th anniversary of the air disaster.

The change follows complaints by locals that consultation was inadequate. Targeted consultation, which ended yesterday, was done by Auckland Council after locals complained they had been left out.

But the issue continued to be divisive, with people criticising the placement, the style and the process that decided where it would go.

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage is managing the project, including its design and location in the park, also called the Parnell Rose Gardens.

But landowner consent is needed from the Waitemata¯ Local Board.

Board chairwoman Pippa Coom and deputy Shale Chambers had planned to make a decision before the election but yesterday said it will now be left for a newly elected board.

The deadline for feedback has been extended until October 29 and a decision on whether landowner consent is granted will be considered at the board’s first business meeting. The memorial, Te Paerangi Ataata

— Sky Song, which incorporates a stainless steel walkway projecting outward to the horizon, was designed with the Parnell park in mind.

It is supported by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Auckland mayor Phil Goff and a ceremony was planned at the site to mark the beginning of construction on November 28, exactly 40 years since the crash.

The ceremony will still be held on that date but most likely at a different venue, with no sod-turning element.

The ministry is to brief Ardern on the effects on cost and timetable.

A “significant proportion” of the $3 million budget for the “site-specific design” has been spent, according to a memo from the local board.

The Government had aimed to unveil the memorial next May.

The ministry told Erebus families in an email that the delay would enable concerns for a heritage po¯hutukawa tree at the edge of the memorial site to be allayed.

“We can assure you there is no risk to this important tree.”

Jo Malcolm, who with fellow resident Annie Coney started a petition to save the lawn, said deferring the decision was “the right result”.

Malcolm’s father-in-law, Alan Stokes, was among 257 on flight TE901 which crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica, killing all on board.

The petition attracted 460 signatures. Malcolm said the extension gave locals time to see fuller information and she welcomed the fact a new board would decide free of the pressure to meet the ceremony deadline.

“I think all good decisions benefit from a fresh set of eyes.”

Independent board member Rob Thomas said it is “a great win for democracy and due process”.

“Council should reconsider its position on public consulting during election periods to avoid these types of mistakes in the future.”