Invercargill City Councillor Nobby Clark has been excluded from the Rugby Park and Surrey Park Sports Hub Governance Group after refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Cr Clark said he was asked last week by council staff to sign a non-disclosure agreement to be part of the group, but he refused to do so, saying it sounded like he was being asked to sign a "gagging order."

The group will oversee the future options for both Rugby Park and Surrey Park and will also include external stakeholders.

In a Performance, Policy and Partnerships Committee meeting yesterday, Cr Clark re-iterated that he wanted to be able to communicate freely with the public, issues that were of interest to the community and said signing a non-disclosure agreement would restrict his ability to do so.

"I'm not happy that as a council we are required to sign an agreement.... we [councillors] are covered by the Local Government Act and by the LGOIMA."

"This is a really important issue for democracy for us as councillors."

"I've checked with the Mayor and he's checked with the previous chief executive and this has never come up in 25 to 30 years in this council."

Because Cr Clark has refused to sign, he has been removed from the group and replaced by Cr Soper who put her name forward to take the position.

Cr Skelt said signing a non-disclosure agreement was about creating a safe environment for those in the group to discuss ideas and plans freely without fear of information being leaked and words being taken out of context.

"It's common practice, it's good business practice and it's as simple as that."

Cr Soper agreed with Cr Skelt saying an environment needed to be created where "free and frank exchange of information" could be discussed.

"If we don't have the absolute free ability for this group to collect the data necessary, we will not be doing a good job for our ratepayers."

She said agreeing to leave one person in the group without making them sign a non-disclosure agreement would "render the group worthless".

Councillors voted in favour of all members of the Rugby Park and Surrey Park Sports Hub Governance Group being required to signing a non-disclosure agreement before participating in the group, and that any member who chooses not to sign the non-disclosure agreement be replaced.