Dr Garry Middle - VisionEnvironment
Dr Garry Middle is the Director of the VisionEnvironment, and has over 40 years experience in environment planning, as a consultant, educator/trainer, researcher and practitioner.
He has worked for State and Local governments, as a consultant, and as an academic. From 2008-2014 was head of Urban and Regional Planning at Curtin University and the Appeals Convenor for the WA Minister for Environment from 2006-2008. Prior to that Garry was Director, Environment and Natural Resource Planning, at Department of Planning and Infrastructure. He also worked for the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) - the peak environmental agency in WA - for over 15 years, and as Manager Strategic Planniong and Environment at the City of Rockingham. More recently, Garry was senior policy advisor on climate change at the WA Local Government Association from 2020-2022.
Key Expertise
Advice and training in Environmental impact assessment - Garry runs training courses for staff of the office of the EPA; taught EIA and Curtin University and have run several professional courses on the EIA processes in WA; internationally and in nationally recognised expert in EIA.
Agency climate change planning - formally the climate change policy officer at WA Local Government Association, formally Curtin University's representative on the United Nation's COP; provided advice to several local governments on preparation of climate change adaptation planning.
Coastal recreational planning - appointed to the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) as the coastal planning and management expert; past chair of the peak coastal planning body in WA, the Coastal Planning and Coordination Council; worked with several local governments in their preparation of their CHRMAPs; completed several research studies into the character and values of the coast in WA; conference chair of the 2014 national Coast to Coast conference.
Environmental planning - I have produced a number of resources as free downloads related to the practice of environmental planning.
Current positions and boards/committees memberships
Director, VisionEnvironment;
Member of the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) scientific council;
Sessional member State Administrative Tribunal;
Associate at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia (WA);
Chair of Great Victoria Desert Biodiversity Trust, an independent Trust fund dedicated to funding research and on-ground works in the Great Victoria Desert. The Trust was established and funded by the proponent of the Tropicana Gold Mine as an offset for its impacts on matters of National Environmental Significance;
Member of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Special Interest Groups on Impact Assessment and climate change;
Members of NELA Climate Change Working Group;
Member of Profession Advisory Committee, Department of Geography and Planning, Curtin University.
Professional affiliations
International Association of Impact Assessment (25 years);
Planning Institute of Australia (20 years);
Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand (5 years)
Environmental Consultants Association (WA) (5 years).
National Environmental Law Association (NELA) (2 years).
Parks & Leisure Australia (2 years).
Photography
I am a semi-professional photographer and have a separate website where you can view my work - click here.
Contact
If you would like to contact Garry, his email is garrymiddle@vision-environment.com - (click to email).
Latest
Book - Environmental Planning as a practice and a personal experience - A focus on Western Australia
This book has been nine years in the making.
This book explores the diverse discipline of environmental planning and is aimed at a general audience including students, practitioners, educators and the general public. It covers the technical, legislative and policy context of the subject but is written is a way that is understandable to anyone who who has an interest in environmental planning. I have working in this area for around 35 years and so I have included personal stories, observations and perspectives which I hope will provide the reader with a deeper understanding and perspective of environmental planning.
The book can be purchased as a whole or as individual chapters.
For more information about this book or to purchase it click on one of the links below.
This book has been prepared by me, Garry Middle, and I can be contacted on garrymiddle@ivision-environment.com and 0448 1224 64.