Senior Environmental Project Manager, Environment Agency NEAS East Anglia Team (2020-21)
As part of my role I was seconded in the EA’s NEAS team and was responsible for co-ordinating the delivery of Environmental Impact Assessments of various nature and scale. This allowed me to make good use of my Environmental and Consenting expertise ensuring environmental best practice was adopted across the delivery of Flood Alleviation Schemes and ensuring god quality deliverables produced by external suppliers.
Consultation Manager, HS2 Project (2019)
This was a project being developed by HS2 Ltd, a public company, owned entirely by the Department for Transport. They worked in the consultation team liaising with all environmental stakeholders from the EA and Natural England to local environmental interest groups and the public. As part of this work, they were responsible for outlining the proposals to a wide audience, answering their queries and feeding back to the design team and the client.
Technical Director Sud and Twyver Flood Alleviation Scheme (2018 – 2019)
This project was part of PDU5 of the Environment Agency’s WEM Framework. In this role they were responsible for determining the scope of the technical reports required for environmental deliverables, managing and delivering the assessment of the environmental implications of each of the options being developed and led Stakeholder Engagement. This involved ensuring that the relevant stakeholders are fully aware of the project and the relevant issues and that their views are sought and incorporated into the project where relevant. This role involved the leadership and management of a team of environmental staff working on the project and including the responsibility for the technical sign off of all reports produced.
Technical Director Kendal Flood Alleviation Scheme (2018 – 2019)
This project is part of the Environment Agency’s WEM Framework. In this role they were responsible for the provision of technical advice and the technical sign off of deliverables within the consultant before they are submitted to the Environment Agency for approval.
Technical Director (Environment) Saffron Walden Culvert Repair for the EA (WEM) (2016 – 2018)
The Saffron Walden Culvert Repair project was a project under the Environment Agency’s WEM Framework. They were responsible for determining the scope of the environmental work required, managing and delivering the assessment of the environmental implications of proposals, and the identification of the implications of any repairs required. Also responsible for managing the team of environmental scientists working on the project and undertaking the technical review and sign off of all documents produced.
Central to this role was liaising with stakeholders to ensure that their requirements were met ensuring the safe passage of the project through the licensing and consenting processes, with emphasis on liaison with Historic England and the County Archaeologist as the culvert passed under a historic part of the town with a number of listed buildings which could have been impacted. The consultation undertaken ensured that the investigations and assessments undertaken were commensurate with the level of risk to the archaeologically important structures without entailing excessive cost for the client.
Technical Director (Environment) Millport Flood Prevention Scheme, North Ayrshire Council (2016 – 18)
This project was undertaken on behalf of North Ayrshire Council to protect the residents of Millport, Isle of Cumbrae from coastal flooding. Their role on this project was identify the scope of the environmental works required for the project, manage the EIA process and the team undertaking the EIA, ensure that the scheme selected for construction met stakeholder expectations and was as environmentally acceptable as possible.
Key to the development of this project was liaison with Marine Scotland.
Amendments to the planning legislation meant that the determination for the need for an EIA now fell to Marine Scotland rather than to the Local Authority. The application for this project was the first one to be submitted and they worked closely with Marine Scotland and other stakeholders to ensure the process ran smoothly.
Although Marine Scotland were the determining authority and responsible for liaison with all stakeholders, the project team undertook consultation with all stakeholders in parallel to Marine Scotland’s process so that all stakeholders were fully aware of the plans and the potential impacts. As a result of this process, the scope of the EIA was reduced and was targeted to those issues of potentially significant environmental concern.
Technical Director (Environment) Moray Flood Prevention Schemes for Moray Council (2003 - 2018)
This £125 million project involved the design, development, and construction of 5 flood alleviation schemes to protect over 550 homes and 150 businesses in four communities in Moray from flooding, The project involved the identification of options for flood alleviation, scoping and identifying all the technical impact assessment work required and reviewing it on a regular basis to ensure that it remained relevant over the life of the projects.
They led the EIA process and managed the team undertaking the EIAs which involved 30 staff at its peak. They were responsible for identifying mitigation measures and as part of the design team, promoting mitigation by design to minimise the amount of mitigation required. They wrote several of the chapters for all five EIAs including the water environment chapter and the hydrology and groundwater chapter and was responsible for the technical review and sign off of the EIA and all other documents produced during the lifetime of the project.
As part of this project, a stakeholder consultation plan was developed at the early stages of the project and it was updated throughout the 14 years of the project to ensure the type and frequency of engagement was reflective of the stage of the project. Consultation with stakeholders was fundamental due to complexity of the schemes and the timescales of the project.
Over the 14-year period, there was significant turnover of staff in the environmental stakeholder organisations and building and maintaining close relationships with the organisations and individuals involved was key to ensuring that all involved in the approvals process were fully aware and supportive.
They were the expert witness for environmental issues at the public inquiry for the planning applications for two of the schemes. They managed the production of all environmental consents and approvals required (planning permission, discharge of planning conditions, listed building consents, SAM consents, badger, otter and red squirrel licences and CAR licences and signed off the technical reports produced to support the applications. They also managed the Environmental Clerk of Works team during the construction phase of the projects, signing off all inspection reports, as well as producing and signing off Early Warnings to inform of potential environmental breaches and/or delays to construction as a result of problems with constriction as well as instructions for mitigation works to be undertaken.