Canterbury City Council leader John Gilbey has announced he will not stand for re-election next year.

He has been a councillor for nearly 14 years and led the Tory group since 2007, but has often come under fire for his leadership style on the executive.

He insists the authority has achieved a "staggering" amount for the district and the Conservative group managed the council's finances in difficult times "outstandingly".

But he admits the failure of the original Westgate Towers scheme is his biggest regret.

He also says the scrapping of the executive, which is being replaced with a committee system of governance, was "not a factor" in his decision to step down next May.

Cllr Gilbey, who represents Blean Forest, said: "I actually decided after the last election that I would not stand again.

“I have been involved in developing the new committee system because I wanted to bring in one that would work. I’m not sure it will but that is not a reason why I am not standing.

“I think if you look at the work the executive has done over the eight years I have been leader it is staggering what has been achieved.

"There is a lot people don’t see, such as the work to create a council that is not member or officer-led, but people working together. We have a proper relationship with officers where members have the final say but with co-operation to get things done.

“Our financial achievements have also been outstanding, in a very difficult financial climate, because we managed the council well with the officers.”

Cllr Gilbey said the failure of the original Westgate traffic scheme would be his biggest regret because, he says, that attempts to tackle congestion and pollution had been thwarted.

He said: “It should have been a Kent County Council project, and completely their project, from the start and we should have stayed out of it.

"Four years ago I said I wanted to deal with congestion and pollution in the city and that simply has not worked.

"Several streets did significantly improve in terms of pollution during the changes, and there was money available to do other things like traffic lights at the Wincheap roundabout.

"But because of the wrangling the money went somewhere else. That is a big regret, because of all the things it needed tackling head on.”

During his time in office, he has overseen projects like the new Marlowe Theatre, development of the Westgate Hall Trust, the clean-up of Seasalter Marshes and improvements to Herne Bay seafront, as well as work to deal with flooding problems on the Stour and Nailbourne.

He paid tribute to officers at Canterbury City Council and Kent County Council as well as his fellow councillors.

He said: "There is a lot people don’t see, such as the work to create a council that is not member-led, or officer-led, but people working together. We have a proper relationship with officers where members have the final say but with co-operation to get things done."

Cllr Gilbey lives in Kingston with his wife Carol, and they have seven grandchildren who they wish to see more often.

He said: “We have family in Jakarta and New York and family in Welwyn Garden City and we want to spend more time with them.

“There are things we haven’t seen and would like to – New Zealand, parts of America – and we have family and friends across the planet that we haven’t been able to visit.”

He has vowed to support the party in the run-up to next year’s local elections while continuing in his role as leader and has offered to help his successor if needed.

No decisions about who will take over will be made until after the election in May 2015.