Director for Planning, Architecture and Regeneration

Responsibilities

Chief Planner and Head of Scottish Government Planning Profession.

Responsibility for delivering Ministers statutory responsibilities and policies to ensure Scotland has a high performing planning system to enable the sustainable development and use of land, our regeneration strategy and associated programmes of investment in places and communities, as well as our approach to architecture and urban design.

Biography

Fiona Simpson was appointed as Chief Planner in 2021 after 15 years working in the Scottish Government’s planning team. Fiona’s previous posts within the Scottish Government were:

• Assistant Chief Planner
• Head of Environmental Assessment
• Strategic Environment Assessment Specialist

Prior to joining the Scottish Government Fiona worked in planning consultancy, supporting a wide range of public and private sector clients to navigate the planning system.

Married with a student daughter, teenage son and Westie dog, Fiona lives in Glasgow where she was born and brought up. She studied at Heriot Watt University where her doctoral thesis was a comparative study of planning in the historic centers of Edinburgh and Prague.