Meet the planning team

Assistant Director

Ian is a Town Planner with over 20 years’ experience. He has served as the Chief Planning Officer for three local authorities in both Hampshire and Surrey, in which time he has taken Local Plans through examination and adoption; achieved planning permission for 20-storey residential towers, Greenbelt Garden Villages and secured the UK’s longest custodial sentence for a breach of planning control.

Ian has been with Portsmouth City Council since 2019 as the Assistant Director for Planning and Economic Growth in the Regeneration Directorate. He is responsible for all the functions of the LPA, as well as Building Control, Contaminated Land, Economic Development, Enterprise Centres, Markets, and Adult Employment, Learning and Skills.

Ian’s priorities are the support of staff to develop and grow within their profession and produce excellent results both for our customers and for the wonderfully diverse and exciting place that is Portsmouth.

Team leader (Development Management) and Interim Head of Development Management

Simon is a Town Planner with over twenty-six years’ of professional experience, starting in a Policy team in rural Staffordshire before moving to Development Management at Solihull Borough. He went on to work at Birmingham City Council for eighteen years, dealing with a wide range of scale and type of development across different parts of the city, including various educational and sporting schemes.

Simon has been at Portsmouth for four years, working as a Team Leader as well as case officer for some larger developments, including local neighbourhood regeneration close to the city centre. He has a keen interest in heritage, townscape and design, and sustainability matters, and mostly gets around Portsmouth on a bicycle. Simon has been pleased to mentor colleagues combining their Planning work while Portsmouth sponsors their studies for a Masters Degree in Planning and achieving progression to MRTPI.

Head of Planning Policy

Lucy started as the new Head of Planning Policy in November 2023 and is in charge of the new Portsmouth Local Plan. She is relishing the challenge of producing a Local Plan for the UK’s only island city and the UK’s most densely populated city.  Working for the City Council has been a real change for Lucy as she was previously Planning Policy Manager for the UK’s newest national park, the South Downs and led on their first ever Local Plan.

Lucy used to live in Portsmouth, and it is a place that she is very fond of. The city has a real spirit and there are some truly ambitious projects to get involved with such as the City Centre regeneration and Tipner. She has found both the officers and Members here to be friendly and welcoming. There are of course challenges at the City Council, which are always actively addressed, including the recruitment and retention of senior planners. There is a supportive senior management team for Planning & Economic Growth who are all working together to deliver the 2040 vision for the City.

Team Leader (New Neighbourhoods)

Nick Lloyd-Davies has over 32 years of experience across a range of planning sectors, including consultancy, development management, DCO and developer. He’s led planning for major nuclear new build at Sizewell C and major new settlements at Ebbsfleet Garden City, Runnymede and now at Portsmouth.

This experience is now focused upon the delivery of new settlements at Portsmouth, a major challenge for a growing city constrained by dense existing development, operational and historic naval defence and an active International Port.

Nick wants to bring a positive and engaging approach to these many challenging projects, including at Tipner and the City Centre, drawing on his understanding of developer and busy planning department pressures and educating a new generation of planners in building robust and happy new communities.

Nick also writes children’s books so any tricky customers may find themselves woven into his next story!

Team Leader (Development Management)

Edward has over 25 years’ experience as a chartered town planner and has worked in both the public and private sectors. Whilst he joined PCC on a temporary contract in July 2020, initially to provide professional planning input into the Council’s opposition to the Aquind DCO, he now also manages the Enforcement and Infrastructure Teams and is also as planning case officer handling major planning applications for development at Tipner including the Transport Hub and the Coastal Defence Schemes at Southsea and Ports Creek (Hilsea Lines).

With his extensive experience, Edward is keen to encourage people into the profession. As an experienced yachtsman working on an island city, Portsmouth is a unique place and the planning challenges are varied and interesting.