On 8 June 2026, the panel convener appointed the expert panel with a commencement date of 15 June 2026. The panel consists of:
Sue Simons (chair)
Sue Simons is a specialist environmental and resource management lawyer and a director at the boutique environmental law firm Berry Simons.
Sue is a highly experienced litigator and has gained national recognition for her expertise in every aspect of this area of law. She has led precedent-setting and ground-breaking cases in many areas within her specialty. Sue regularly represents clients at council hearings, in the Environment Court, District Court and High Court. She has appeared before several Boards of Inquiry on matters of national significance.
Sue has prior experience at chairing Fast-track Panels, most recently the Ashbourne project in Matamata.
Sue is frequently called upon to provide high-level opinions on complex resource management, local government and environmental issues.
Nigel Mark-Brown
Nigel Mark-Brown is a civil/environmental engineer. Mr. Mark-Brown has 50 years' experience in the areas of: environmental and civil engineering, coastal inundation, stormwater discharges, wastewater discharges, flood protection, river diversion, landfills, quarries, site remediation and general land use planning matters. He has wide ranging civil and three waters engineering expertise and has sat on a large number of consent hearings for Auckland Council and other councils throughout New Zealand. He has also been a member of a Board of Enquiry panel and provided expert reports on stormwater and flooding matters for Fast-track consent applications.
Mr. Mark-Brown is a member of Engineering NZ, International Professional Engineers Register (NZ), a member of NZ Water and NZ Sustainability Society. He has a good understanding of te ao Māori and Māori development and holds the Making Good Decisions accreditation with a 30 June 2027 expiry date.
Carolyn Wratt
Carolyn is a resource management planner with over 27 years' experience. She is an accredited independent hearings commissioner, and is a Deputy Commissioner with the Environment Court as well as being a principal planner with her own company.
She has assisted a large number of expert consenting panels considering and making decisions on fast-track consent applications under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 and the current Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, as well as numerous Boards of Inquiry. The role has required assessing the applications, including being across all of the technical reports and how these relate to the relevant planning framework as well as drafting the decisions. She has assisted the decision-making committees and Boards of Inquiry in a number of applications made under the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012.
Carolyn is also experienced in both facilitating and participating in informal and formal negotiations, expert conferencing and mediations.
James Whetu
James Whetu is a full member of the New Zealand Planning Institute and an accredited independent hearings commissioner. He is a Director and the Principal Consultant of Whetū Consultancy Group, and is a shareholder of, and advisor to, The Stream.
James has extensive experience in resource management policy and planning, including research, with expertise in the integration, incorporation and consideration of te ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He is also Chairperson for the South Waikato Investment Fund Trust, and a Trustee on the Raukawa Settlement Trust.