Curriculum Vitae

I, Jonathon Maynard BSc FRICS, am a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in private practice as a Chartered Land Surveyor specializing in boundary demarcation and disputes, and in rights of way disputes.

 

Since May 2000 I have served on the Boundaries and Party Walls Working Group of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and became its Chairman in January 2003. This body’s role is to assist in the assembling and dissemination (by published articles and/or lectures) to other surveyors of the latest information concerning the practice of boundary and rights of way disputes and of all issues relating to party walls.

 

In 1997/98 I served as President of the Land and Hydrographic Surveys Division (whose name was changed during my own tenure to the Geomatics[1] Division) of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

 

 

EDUCATION

·         I have a bachelors degree in Geography, obtained from the University of Reading in 1970.

·         I have a postgraduate certificate (MSc equivalent) in Land Surveying, gained at the (now, Royal) School of Military Survey, Hermitage, Newbury, Berks in 1971. The syllabus for this course included land surveying, geodetic surveying [2], photogrammetry[3] (including air photo interpretation), land law, cadastral surveying [4], cartography and printing.

·         I was elected a professional associate (ARICS) of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (a process then involving examination by thesis) in 1975.

·         I passed the (BSc equivalent) British Computer Society Examination in 1993.

·         I transferred to the fellowship of the RICS in 1995.

 

EXPERIENCE

I have 34 years varied experience in the mapping industry, mostly working for British government departments, before setting up my own practice.

Between 1971 and 1981 I worked for the Directorate of Overseas Surveys (which merged with Ordnance Survey in 1984) and served in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Yemen, as well as on secondment to the government of Vanuatu (South Pacific). These postings gave me experience in:

·         high-precision surveying of geodetic frameworks;

·         Survey and revision of mapping at various scales from 1:2500 to 1:50,000;

·         intensive use of aerial photographs in desk-based planning and reconnaissance, navigation, and in the precise identification on aerial photography of survey control points for mapping purposes;

·         (in Kenya and in Vanuatu) cadastral mapping.

 

Between 1981 and 1999 I worked for Ordnance Survey at their headquarters in Southampton. My duties included:

·         research and development of digital cartography;

·         quality control of large scales (ie. 1:1250 and 1:2500 scale) mapping;

·         production of the base mapping used by HM Land Registry for its index map and for its filed plans;

·         marketing of large scales mapping, and its incorporation into third party mapping products.

 

In February 2000 I set up in practice, as a sole principal, to offer expert witness services in relation to boundary demarcation and disputes and to right of way disputes. In January 2004 my practice became a limited company trading under the name of Jon Maynard Boundaries Ltd.

·         All of my expert witness experience has occurred since the implementation of the Woolf reforms and my practice respects the precept that my duty of impartiality to the court overrides my duty to my client;

·         My long experience of mapping (particularly of Ordnance Survey mapping), of land registration, of precise survey techniques, and of the use of aerial photography, together with my knowledge of GIS, makes me particularly well placed to analyse both documentary and extant physical evidence relating to the position of a property boundary or to the route of a right of way.

·         I have a reputation for writing clear, well-reasoned reports that are compliant with Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules.

·         My web site, which can be found at www.boundary-problems.co.uk, is recognized by landowners and solicitors alike as the most informative site on the subject and a valuable source of information. Some of my published articles appear there.