Commissioners
Judges and Commissioners - Commissioners
Environment Commissioners
P A Catchpole
Paul A Catchpole MNZIS is a Registered Surveyor living in New Plymouth. He trained as a surveyor in New Plymouth where he was in private practice for several years before being originally appointed to the Planning Tribunal in July 1980 (for 3 years). He was re-appointed in 1983 (3 years), 1986 (5 years) and 1991 (5 years). Since the change in status to the Environment Court, he has been re-appointed in 1995 (5 years), July 2001(3 years) and October 2004 (5 years).
Completed a LEADR mediation workshop July 1996 and an advanced mediation seminar (May 2000).
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R M Dunlop
Ross M Dunlop BA, Diploma Town and Country Planning, MNZPI is a professionally qualified resource management planner living in Glendowie, Auckland. He was initially appointed as a fulltime Commissioner on 3 March 2003 (5 year term) and re-appointed on 9 June 2008 for a further 5 year term. Commissioner Dunlop has over 30 years experience in planning and resource management, which has included a number of senior management positions, namely District Planner for the Ministry of Works and Development (Auckland), Manager Planning and Environment for the Franklin District Council and Senior Principal (Planning) for URS New Zealand Limited (the successor to Woodward-Clyde NZ Ltd and Murray North and Partners). In addition to his plan preparation and policy work much of Commissioner Dunlop's experience has been with multi-disciplinary teams engaged on a range of major public and private sector projects, particularly transportation and major infrastructure works in Otago/Southland, Taranaki, Auckland and Northland. He completed a LEADR mediation workshop in March 2003.
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K A Edmonds
Kathryn was first appointed to the court in 2005. Prior to joining the court Kathryn practised as a solicitor and headed the environmental division of a large consultancy firm. Earlier she was an advisor to the Minister for the Environment after holding senior policy, planning and management roles in water and soil, and town and country planning, in the Ministry of Works and Development. Kathryn has an LLM (Dist) and LLB (Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, a BA (Geography) from the University of Auckland and a postgraduate diploma in town planning from the UK. Kathryn also served as a member of the Board of Inquiry into the Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2008.
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W R Howie
Russell Howie was appointed an Environment Commissioner in July 2001. He holds the degree of Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Canterbury University, and is a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers. He has been an Independent Commissioner under the RMA on many occasions for the Wellington Regional Council and for the Wellington, Porirua, Hutt and Upper Hutt City Councils. He was the Environmental Manager for the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand and before that he was the Deputy Director of Water and Soil Conservation for the National Water and Soil Conservation Authority. He has been involved in the design and construction of highways, dams, irrigation schemes, flood control schemes, drainage schemes and in the allocation of water resources. He is a past president of the New Zealand Society of Large Dams and was recently the Project Manager for the Strengthening of the Matahina Dam.
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C E Manning
Appointed as a Commissioner in July 2001 Charles Manning commenced duties in October 2001. He was born in Leicester, England, and educated at Southampton University, (BA(Hons) 1967, MA 1969).He lectured in the classics department of the University of Canterbury from 1968 to 2001. He was a Christchurch City councillor from 1980 to 1983 and 1986 to 2001. During that time he chaired the City Plan hearings committee and the Resource Management committee.
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H A McConachy
Ms Heather McConachy commenced duties as an Environment Commissioner on 6 August 2001. She holds the degrees of BA from Massey University (1989), BLA from Lincoln University (1992), and is completing an MSc at Auckland University. Heather is a Landscape Architect, based in Auckland; formerly self employed and more recently with the Environmental Consultancy firm, Biome. Her experience covers work and consultancy with Local Bodies, including design, assessment and project implementation over an extensive range of sites for revegetation, planning and work with community development projects.
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Dr D H Menzies
In 2006 Diane Menzies was elected as President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects, a two year term. Dr Menzies has academic qualifications in horticulture, landscape architecture, mediation, resource management and business management. Her Ph.D. in Resource Studies concerned rural environmental quality issues.
She has over 30 years experience with local and national government in landscape planning, design, environmental policy analysis and resource management. She was appointed to the Environment Court of New Zealand as a Commissioner in 2001. Prior to her appointment Dr Menzies was a landscape planning consultant. She has also been an elected local government representative.
Diane Menzies is a Registered landscape architect, past president and life member of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects as well as past International Federation of Landscape Architects Secretary General and Eastern Region Secretary, chair of the Congresses committee and newsletter editor. She has presented papers at conferences on landscape architecture in Peru, Australia, Japan, Korea, Italy, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Costa Rica, China, Russia and the USA; written articles, and chapters of books. She has judged planning and design competitions and awards in Australia and New Zealand, conducted training seminars for expert witnesses and mediation participants, and undertaken accreditation reviews of university programmes in landscape architecture. She has also recently been invited to join the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.
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J R Mills
John Mills graduated from Lincoln University with a B.Agricultural Commerce in 1975. He owned and managed a 3000 stock unit sheep and beef farm in the Te Anau Basin 1981-1999. Local Government Experience: Elected to Southland Regional Council 1989-1998. Deputy Chair of that Council 1992-1998. Chair of Consents Committee 1992-1998. He was first appointed an Environment Commissioner in 1999. Completed LEADR mediation workshop 1999.
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M P Oliver
Marlene Oliver BA, MURP, MNZPI, is a professionally qualified resource management planner living in Auckland. Commissioner Oliver has over 30 years experience in planning and resource management, plan preparation and administration. Prior to her appointment as a full-time Commissioner in the Environment Court in April 2004, she practised as a planning consultant and Independent Commissioner under the RMA. She previously worked in both local and regional government, including as the County Planner for the then Rodney County Council. Commissioner Oliver is a LEADR qualified mediator.
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K Prime
Kevin Prime, lives in Northland and was initially appointed from 1 March 2003 (5 year term) and re-appointed on 9 June 2008 for a further five year term. Kevin Prime has been a farmer and forester in Motatau (Northland), for the last 40 years and in the last two years has taken up bee keeping as a hobby. During the last 20 years or so he has been very much involved in community matters with Marae Committees, Maori Committees, Runanga, Maori development, School Boards of Trustees, Charitable Trusts, Health Trusts, Community Trusts, Forest Trusts, Forest Companies, Health Companies, Health Boards, Conservation Boards at local, regional and national levels. He has also served on Ministerial Advisory groups pertaining to Health, Forestry, Conservation, Maori Affairs, Environment, Crown Research Institutes, Lands, and Sport.
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Helen Beaumont
Helen Beaumont was appointed as a Commissioner in August 2007 and completed the LEADR mediation training in November 2007. Her professional background is in environmental chemistry and her early career was with DSIR Chemistry and ESR, a Crown Research Institute. Her research interests focused on environmental health and the connections between the quality of the environment and human well-being. From 2000 to 2007 Helen was Assistant Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and contributed to a wide range of projects to advance environmental sustainability in New Zealand
Helen was born in the deep south and has made her home in Wellington over the past 25 years. Her leisure time interests include gardening, conservation projects, cycling and reading theology.
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Dr A Sutherland
Dr Alex Sutherland commenced duties as a Commissioner in January 2005. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (1st Class Honours) and a Master of Engineering from the University of Auckland. In 1966 he obtained his PhD from Caltech in Civil Engineering and Mathematics. In 1967 he joined the University of Canterbury as a lecturer in Civil Engineering carrying out teaching and research in hydraulic and coastal engineering. He became Dean of Engineering in 1987 and held that position until 2005. He served on the University Council for 10 years and as a member of the Senior Management team in 2004-2005. As an auditor for the Academic Audit Unit he chaired academic audits of the Universities of Auckland and Otago. From 1980 until 1989 he was an elected member of the North Canterbury Catchment Board. He has acted many times as an independent commissioner for a number of Regional and Local Councils. Dr Sutherland is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institution of Engineers New Zealand and served on its Council for 12 years and as a member of its Competency Assessment Board during 2001-2005.
In 2005 Dr Sutherland was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
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David Bunting
David Bunting is a civil engineering graduate from Canterbury University. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand. He has been a board member of the Institution of Professional Engineers, the Engineers Registration Board and the Chartered Professional Engineers Council. Prior to his appointment as an Environment Commissioner, he was international manager and then business development manager for Opus International Consultants. He has extensive experience of physical infrastructure development projects in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and many developing countries in the Asia Pacific region.
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Anne C E Leijnen
Anne Leijnen NZCTP, BTP commenced duties with the Environment Court in January 2011. She is a professionally qualified Town Planner with some 30 years experience in both local authority planning practice and as a private consultant. Anne was the managing director of a small planning consultancy in the 1980s and during this period amongst other roles, advised the Minister for the Americas Cup and assisted with the formulation of the special legislation which was required to meet obligations at that time. Anne has practiced as a sole practitioner for the last 20 years. Anne has had a successful career working on a wide range of development projects including major retail, health and education projects and sports/entertainment projects, as well as iwi consultation and urban design projects. She is experienced in working with multi-disciplinary teams, often in a lead role. Prior to appointment as a Commissioner, Anne has also worked as an independent hearing commissioner in Auckland.
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Deputy Environment Commissioners
Owen Borlase
Initially appointed as a Deputy Commissioner for a period of 5 years from 3 March 2003 and subsequently re-appointed a Deputy Environment Commissioner for a further three years effective from 9 June 2008. His career background is with the Ministry of Works, Catchment Boards and Regional Water Boards and New Zealand Engineering Consultancies. Resident in Dunedin he has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Civil) from Auckland University and a Master of Business Administration from Otago University. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer, an International Professional Engineer and a Member (Civil, Environmental) of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand. He is also an Associate of the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators NZ and the recipient of an ANZAC Fellowship Award from the New Zealand and Australian Governments.
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Dr Bruce Gollop
Dr Gollop hold degrees in chemical engineering and medicine. Originally he was environmental engineer for NZ Forest Products Ltd but has wide technical and management experience in the paper, chemical and petroleum industries. He is a registered specialist in occupational medicine. Since 1990 Dr Gollop has been in senior health management roles having been CEO of a number of Health Boards. Currently he practises occupational medicine and has his own health management consultancy that operates within Australasia.
Dr Gollop was appointed a Deputy Environment Commissioner in March 2003
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Ken Fletcher
Born and brought up in Kawa Kawa, Northland Ken completed a BA and BCom at Auckland University. On completion he moved to Christchurch and worked for the following twenty years in economics and National Accounts with Statistics New Zealand. For over a decade he was an Advisor in economics for Statistics NZ, with large components of training and mentoring staff, external training in National Accounts, and a working brief that spanned the entire Economic Statistics Group, in undertaking, leading and advising on development projects and on-going statistical outputs. Extensive experience as the leading PSA delegate within Statistics New Zealand led Ken to an interest in dispute resolution and retraining as a mediator, gaining LEADR accreditation and Associate of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand.
A life-long interest in things rural, Ken assisted his horticulturist wife Jenny to establish and run a specialist mail-order herb nursery. Ken and his family moved their nursery to North Canterbury in 1999. When not mediating and acting for the Court, Ken spends his time working on farms in the local Oxford area - when he is not coaching or playing football that is.
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David Kernohan
Appointed as a Deputy Commissioner in August 2007, David Kernohan is an architect and former Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Wellington's Victoria University, School of Architecture. He has been operating his own research and building heritageconsultancy, Architecture Diagnostics, for the past five years. David was co-author of the Hunn Report on the weather-tightness of buildings that precipitated recent changes to the Building Act 2004
David is a member of the Board of Wellington Waterfront Ltd, and was appointed in January 2004. Previously, he chaired Wellington City Council's Waterfront Development Subcommittee in its first three years of existence during the critical period of translating the Wellington Waterfront Framework from aspiration to intention. David is co-owner, with his wife Christine, of Gladstone Vineyard in the Wairarapa.
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C Blom
Carron Blom has 20 years of postgraduate experience in environmental engineering and sciences. She holds a BSc (chem / zoo) and an MSc (env sc / zoo), and has held the title New Zealand Young Engineer of the Year. She is a Technical Member of IPENZ (TIPENZ), MRSNZ, and MRMLA, and has environmental auditor qualifications. Carron was appointed to the Court in 2010, and has her own specialist consultancy in environmental management strategies. She was previously the Technical Director – Environmental of a large engineering consultancy. Her experience focussed around the leadership of multidisciplinary teams responsible for the assessment, consenting, and delivery of a range of major infrastructure. This experience includes senior management or review roles in a number of billion dollar projects in New Zealand and Australia. Her expertise also extends to industrial and manufacturing applications, and across a range of disciplines. Carron will be completing the LEADR mediation course in March 2011.
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