The omission of Tauranga from a modern Kiwi war memorial in London is being described as 'bizarre” by the city's Mayor, who is vowing to get answers on how the blip occurred.

The Zealand Memorial sculptures. Photo: Supplied.

The $3million New Zealand Memorial in London's Hyde Park is made up of 16 cross-shaped vertical bronze ‘standards' set out in formation on a grassy slope. Each standard has text, patterns and small sculptures.

Of the sculptures, unveiled in November 2006, one lists different cities arranged geographically but Tauranga – New Zealand's fifth largest city – seems to have missed the selection cut.

The list reads: Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne, Taupo, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Westport, Greymouth, Christchurch, Timaru, Queenstown, Dunedin and Invercargill.

Ministry for Culture and Heritage Communications AdviserSean McKenna says the list of place names was obtained by the artist from a small motoring map, which was found in the front of a diary.

'The artist's main intent was to show how many New Zealand urban centres have a direct reference to the United Kingdom. For example, Nelson, Wellington and Hastings.

'The choice of place names was not therefore based on population or national significance.”

The apparent oversight remained unnoticed until Radio Network client service manager Andrew Love saw the standards while travelling Europe – he's since contacted city leaders and SunLive about the absence.

Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby says he was unaware of the 'extraordinary” situation but is going to make some enquiries as to why this happened.

'I mean a large number of Tauranga families I would suggest would be distressed that they are not recognised on that memorial, for their forebearers that served in many campaigns around the world,” says Stuart.

'As to why Tauranga seems to be excluded seems to be bizarre to say the least.”

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges believes Tauranga should have been included on the list and offers the idea it might have been excluded due to city size during war-time.

Having personally viewed the memorial, he says centres like Westport and Blenheim might have bigger than Tauranga, but the omission highlights the bigger picture of promoting the Bay of Plenty nationally.

'Obviously Tauranga should have been on it. I think we are seeing these issues less and less as people outside Tauranga cotton on to the fact that we are now one of the bigger cities in the country,” says Simon.

'We have just got to make sure those wider set of issue of us being on the weather, on the news are being recognised, as Tauranga is one of the most vibrant dynamic cities in the country and we are getting there.”

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage webpage says the war memorial commemorates the enduring bonds between NZ and the UK, and the shared sacrifices of the first and second world wars.

Designed by architect John Hardwick-Smith and sculptor Paul Dibble, it is the ministry's intention for it to become a particular focus for annual Anzac Day commemorations in London.

The project was managed by the Ministry in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Defence Force, and Veterans' Affairs New Zealand. In London, it was carried out in cooperation with English Heritage and the Westminster City Council.