On 30 June 2026, the panel convener appointed the expert panel. The panel consists of:
Mary Hill (Chair)
Mary Hill is a Mount Maunganui-based resource management and local government barrister with over 25 years’ experience. Mary advises both private and local government clients on all aspects of resource management law. She has chaired several Fast-track panels, including the recent Tauranga Northern Link Stage 2 roading project.
Mary is an independent statutory officer designated by local authorities under Whistleblowing legislation and conducts independent investigations into local authority code of conduct breaches. In those roles she is required to follow the principles of natural justice to ensure fair and independent decision-making.
Mary is a former President of the Resource Management Law Association and sits on the New Zealand Law Society's Environment Committee.
Chloe Trenouth
Chloe is an independent planning consultant with over 25 years’ experience across central and local government and the private sector. She is a full member of the New Zealand Planning Institute and an accredited hearings commissioner under the Making Good Decisions programme.
Chloe has extensive experience in resource management, including regional and district planning, designations, resource consents, and infrastructure projects. She regularly appears at council hearings as a section 42A planner for plan changes and provides expert planning evidence before the Environment Court.
A key focus of Chloe’s practice is working with mana whenua to understand cultural values and develop effective approaches to avoid, remedy, or mitigate cultural effects. Her experience includes advising councils on Sites of Significance to Māori and mana whenua provisions in Auckland, Queenstown-Lakes, and Waitaki, as well as working for iwi to advise on private plan changes and major infrastructure projects.
Graham Ussher
Graham is an ecologist who has more than 30 years' experience working with government agencies and the commercial sector on projects that involve potential adverse effects on indigenous biodiversity and which require the development of approaches to ecological effects management.
He specialises in the assessment of terrestrial and freshwater species and ecosystems, and the application of methods to avoid, mitigate, offset or compensate for the loss of biodiversity that may arise from development projects.
Graham has worked across all sectors of development in New Zealand – resource extraction, infrastructure, land development, water security, roading, and renewal energy generation – through concept design, consenting, management of physical works, wildlife salvage and relocation, ecosystem restoration, and monitoring of ecological outcomes.
He regularly presents expert evidence on these matters to Hearings, Panels, and to the Environment Court.
Register of interests
The register records all relevant panel members' interests. It is updated, when necessary, throughout the consenting process.