Interim chair of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Charles Banner, will serve a further six months.
The appointment will now continue until June 30, 2024, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced.
It was decided that Banner will remain in the role while the department completes an open competition for a new chair of the committee.
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) advises the government and devolved administrations on biological diversity, geological conservation and sustaining natural systems.
The interim appointment of Banner was made by the Environment Secretary as an exceptional appointment without competition, following consultation with the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Charles Banner
Banner has been an independent member of the JNCC since 2017, and he was previously the deputy chair as well as the chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
He is a barrister at Keating Chambers, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2004 and the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2010.
He practices across both jurisdictions and internationally. He specialises in environment and planning law, commercial dispute resolution and public and regulatory law.
Banner sits judicially on a part-time basis as a Justice of the Astana International Finance Centre Court in Kazakhstan.
