The sub-branch wants to move the war memorial plaques under the trees on Eighth Division Memorial Avenue to the unused bowling green on Acacia Street in order to create a new memorial garden.

Sub-branch secretary Ruth Clarke said this was because of accessibility issues and the mess the trees made.

"They're very difficult to see and for family members to access at all, plus the fact that all those trees keep dropping branches and leaves and debris onto them effects the plaques," Mrs Clarke said.

"They're a real mess, and there's bees in the trees which stops people going anywhere near them. They are just an important war memorial in a bad spot at present."

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The sub-branch has a ten-year lease on the bowling green which ends in December, and members want to extend the lease for the project to go ahead.

In a letter to the council, Mrs Clarke wrote that the re-developed area "would complement the existing Remembrance Grove and Vietnam veterans war memorial murals, war memorial swimming complex, and Anzac Park".

Councillor Murray O'Keefe said he wasn't opposed to the project, but the decision to approve the development should be deferred "for consideration after a workshop with council".

"My biggest concern is that we enter into a ten-year agreement, create a memorial garden, and then a future council decides that it's an inappropriate spot for it and there's better uses for the land," Cr O'Keefe said.

"Then a future council would seek to end the agreement or move that memorial and I think that would be a very unpalatable action and I think it would be remiss of us to rush this and leave a future Gunnedah council exposed to that potential issue."

Cr O'Keefe said it was a "great project" but he didn't want a future council to "realise later 'gee that was a bit of a mistake'".

"I would like the opportunity for us as an elected group to sit down and unpack some alternatives for how we could achieve what they're trying to achieve," he said at the council meeting.

Mrs Clarke wasn't upset with the council's decision, saying "at least they're still willing to look at the re-development".

The plaques themselves are currently being refurbished, and while the sub-branch doesn't have a time-frame for the project to begin, the sub-branch secretary said she hoped they would have a new home soon.

"We didn't have a time-frame because we were waiting for council to talk to that piece but when the plaques come back we would like to have some idea of whether we can use the green to put them in or if they'll go back under the trees again," Mrs Clarke said.

"The sub-branch feels that they are morally obliged to look after them and see them cared for."