History & heritage  |  4 Dec 2020

Christchurch City Council will consider next week whether it should accept the gift of the Citizens’ War Memorial from Church Property Trustees (CPT).

CPT wrote to the Council on 5 November, offering to gift the Cathedral Square memorial to the organisation so that it can own it on behalf of the citizens of Christchurch.

The memorial, which commemorates all those from Canterbury who died in war, needs to be moved from its current site next to Christ Church Cathedral so that reinstatement work on the Cathedral can proceed.

The memorial, which has some earthquake damage and rust on the inside, also needs to be repaired and strengthened.

Under the terms of the offer made to the Council, CPT will prepare and lodge resource and building consent applications for the relocation of the memorial and also commit the balance of funds from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust to making the move happen.

Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Limited – the company set up to oversee the reinstatement of the Cathedral – will deconstruct the memorial and prepare the component parts for transport and storage.

The Council, if it accepts the gift, will be responsible for identifying a new site for the memorial, providing interim storage for it, and funding and overseeing its repair and strengthening.

The Council already has $270,000 in its Long Term Plan for repairs and refurbishment of the memorial as it has always taken responsibility for its maintenance, under agreement with the Church.

In a report prepared for elected members, Council staff are recommending that Council accept the gift of the memorial. They have identified public land in the vicinity of the old Police Kiosk in Cathedral Square as the preferred site for it.

The report says staff have recently met with senior representatives of the Returned Services’ Association and they are in favour of retaining the Citizens’ War Memorial in Cathedral Square, on Council land as close as possible to its current site.

Read the report on Citizens’ War Memorial Gifting Proposal.