Former Canterbury Arts Centre trustee unhappy with policy direction

Former Arts Centre Trust Board member Ian Lochhead resigned as Canterbury University's representative because he was unhappy with the board's direction and decisions.

Asked yesterday if he had leaked sensitive trust board information to opponents of the university's proposed National Conservatorium of Music, he would neither confirm nor deny it.

"I'm a former trustee and I'm not commenting on trust board matters," he said.

Lochhead, an associate professor and convener of the university's art history and theory programme, and a 19th century-architecture specialist, said he had not been happy on the board.

"My concerns, and this is what I said to the board as near as I can recall it, was that I was uncomfortable with their policy direction and their decision-making processes."

Arts Centre senior management and past and present trust board members are under suspicion over the leaking of confidential financial documents. Minutes, documents and financial details are in papers served on the trust board as part of the Save our Arts Centre Society's High Court bid to stall or stop the planned $24.5 million development.

Lochhead resigned in September, after only a year on the board. He is an expert in architectural conservation and the history of New Zealand architecture, and has written extensively about the buildings of founding Canterbury architect Benjamin Mountfort, which include the former Canterbury College, now the Arts Centre.

He has been replaced by Gillian Heald, a member of the University of Canterbury Foundation's Board of Trustees, and a former Rangi Ruru Girls' School principal.

The Christchurch City Council's representative on the trust board has also resigned.

City councillor Sue Wells handed a resignation letter to the board last week, although she said she told them in September she would be standing down. Wells was appointed to the board in 2007.

Wells said she "categorically" did not leak the information.

"I'm not the source. I wouldn't leak anything."

She said she resigned because of the difficulty of taking part in board discussions on the proposal due to her council responsibilities.

- © Fairfax NZ News