Christchurch City Councillor Charles Manning has resigned as he has been appointed as a commissioner of the Environment Court.

Cr. Manning, a Canterbury University lecturer, has been a City Councillor for more than 17 years.

A report on his resignation will go to next month’s meeting of the Council at which a decision will be made on the vacancy his resignation creates.

The Council can determine to hold an election, fill the vacancy by appointment or, as the vacancy has occurred within six months of an election, that the vacancy not be filled.

The Council is expected not to fill the vacancy, as local government elections will be held on 13 October.

Cr. Manning is chairman of the Resource Management Committee and his deputy is Cr. Sue Wells.

Cr. Manning also served on the Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board as a Council appointee.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>