Christchurch

Sarah Dawson

Director::Planning & Planner

Education

Master of Science (Resource Management) (Distinction); University of Canterbury/ Lincoln College, New Zealand, 1977
Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) (First Class Honours); University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 1972

Professional Affiliations

Member, New Zealand Planning Institute
Member, Resource Management Law Association of New Zealand
Member, International Association for Impact Assessment and New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment

Profile

Sarah has practised as a planner / resource manager since 1977 as both a consultant and a senior local authority planner. She has extensive experience throughout New Zealand in statutory and environmental planning / resource management, environmental assessment and policy analysis.

Sarah has a sound understanding of the implications and procedures under the Resource Management Act and has worked on resource management issues at both the district and regional authority level. She has been involved with district scheme/plan preparation and administration for many years.

More recently, Sarah has mainly been involved with managing environmental assessment for large multi-disciplinary projects, where she has demonstrated her recognised ability to work as part of a team.

Expertise

Statutory planning and policy preparation

Analysing issues and developing objectives and policies for Plan changes, review and formulation of district plans. Coordinating public information, community consultation and assisting with public hearings.

Plan administration

Providing advice to local and regional authorities on the implementation of policy documents, plans and the Resource Management Act 1991.

Assessment of effects on the environment

Managing and co-ordinating assessments of environmental effects for large multi-disciplinary projects. Scoping and evaluating effects of projects, advising on siting, design and mitigation, and undertaking consultation for resource consents and other projects.

Resource consents

Preparing resource consent applications for projects, including assessment of effects and advice on mitigation, analysis of Plan provisions, consultation with consent authorities and affected parties, presenting evidence to council or Environment Court hearings.

Water and soil resource management

Analysing issues and preparing objectives and policies relating to regional water and land resource management issues.

Local authority management

Providing advice on integrating the management of local authority functions.