Dutch residents are objecting to the construction of a Holocaust memorial in their local park.

Reasons given by a community group opposing the erection of the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names in Amsterdam's Wertheim Park - in the city's Jewish Quarter - include the fact that they do not want to be confronted with the victims' names every time they take the dog for a walk.

The residents also say that they have no appetite for the 200,000 tourists expected to visit the memorial each year.

There is currently no memorial in the Netherlands that lists the names of the 102,000 Dutch Holocaust victims.

Last year, Mayor of Amsterdam Eberhard van der Laan backed the Dutch Auschwitz Committee's plan to have the monument, designed by Jewish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, built in the park.

"I find that 70 years after the end of a war, where the Netherlands lost the highest percentage of Jews in Europe, as well as being the only country without a monument dedicated to the Holocaust, it must be about time," said Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee.

The memorial was envisioned for completion this spring but has been delayed due to the local opposition.

The €5 million memorial, financed mainly by private donations and sponsors, was put on hold last July after the mayor promised the residents an inquiry into the issue of its location.

"We have from the very beginning made it clear that the best location for the memorial is next to an already existing Auschwitz memorial in Wertheim Park. But wherever the location, the two must be close together," said Mr Grishaver.

A final decision is unlikely to be made before 2016.