28 Aug 2009

Mayor not surprised at no-confidence vote in Burke

3:19 pm on 28 August 2009

A South Canterbury mayor says he is not surprised by the Canterbury Regional Council's vote of no confidence in its chairperson.

Eight of the 14 councillors backed the motion at a meeting in Timaru on Thursday night.

They will debate whether to replace Sir Kerry at a meeting on 24 September.

Councillors who backed the vote at a meeting on say Sir Kerry lacks leadership and credibility amongst other community leaders.

Mayor of the Waimate District John Coles says many people in South Canterbury feel the regional council is too focused on Christchurch and takes too long to process resource consents.

Mr Coles says there has been so much damage done to the regional council's reputation that some are now questioning whether it should exist at all.

He says Sir Kerry has never had the complete support of his council.

A Canterbury Regional Councillor who tabled a vote of no confidence in Sir Kerry says he lacked leadership and was damaging the council's reputation.

Mark Oldfield says Sir Kerry has had little or no communication with some councillors and the community has lost confidence in him.

Sir Kerry - a former Speaker of Parliament - says communication is a two-way-street and he is open to suggestions about how his leadership could improve.