A concept plan for the proposed Archibald Baxter memorial garden has been approved by the Dunedin City Council. IMAGE: BAXTER DESIGN

A memorial dedicated to New Zealand's best-known pacifist will go ahead after years of delays and setbacks.

The Archibald Baxter Memorial Trust has been granted resource consent to build a memorial honouring World War 1 conscientious objector, lifelong pacifist and Brighton resident Archibald Baxter, and other conscientious objectors.

Archibald Baxter. Photo: Ref: 1/2-037732-F. Alexander Turnbull Library

It will be built on a Dunedin City Council reserve at the intersection of George and Albany Sts.

The memorial will replace an annual planting bed and staircases.

The memorial park, designed by Queenstown landscape designer Paddy Baxter will include new footpaths, timber seating, lighting and public artwork.

At the centre of the memorial will be a rock sculpture by Arrowtown sculptor Shane Woolridge, depicting a form of punishment to which some objectors were subjected.

Mr Baxter and three other New Zealanders endured Field Punishment No1, colloquially known as crucifixion, in France in 1917.

Signs would explain the meaning of the sculpture and provide a background to the story of Mr Baxter's life as a socialist, pacifist and conscientious objector.

Trust chairman and University of Otago National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies director Prof Kevin Clements said the trust was happy the site was finally confirmed.

It was hoped work on the memorial could start before the end of the year.

About $300,000 was needed to complete the project and the trust would now move into fundraising mode, he said.

``It's taken us far, far too long, but we are very pleased and are looking to having it up and running and it will be a significant contribution to the city's art and cultural scene.''

The proposal to commemorate Mr Baxter and other objectors has faced hurdles since being mooted in 2014.

Originally the memorial was planned for a site in Anzac Ave, but the Returned and Services Association opposed the memorial being placed on a road named to commemorate World War 1 and Dunedin soldiers who died.

Another proposed site in the Otago Museum Reserve was also abandoned in 2015.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz