Pool of commissioners increased
Waipā District Council has increased its pool of accredited independent hearing commissioners.
On behalf of Council, independent commissioners hear resource management applications including resource consents, designations and plan changes under the Resource Management Act. All commissioners used by Council are independently accredited by the Ministry for the Environment.
Commissioner costs for resource consents and private plan changes are recoverable from applicants. Council budgets to cover the costs of commissioners for Council-led plan changes.
Consents team leader Quentin Budd said accredited commissioners provides Council with a mix of skill sets including planning, law, tikanga, ecology, engineering and landscape architecture.
“Having a group of highly-skilled experienced commissioners available, with a broad range of expertise, ensures planning decisions are legally robust,” Budd said.
“It also streamlines the process of appointing commissioners, without impacting on statutory timeframes. So it keeps the process moving more quickly for applicants.”
An evaluation process saw 86 registrations of interest received. Fourteen commissioners have been selected to be considered for Waipā work, up from the previous pool of nine. Those commissioners are Robert van Voorthuysen, Philip Mitchell, Simon Berry, Steven Wilson, Richard Blakey, David Hill, Dave Sarjeant, Karyn Sinclair, Poto Davies, Peter Kensington, Tim Manukau, Alan Pattle, Vicki Morrison-Shaw and Sharon De Luca.