Phil has a lifelong lay interest in heritage and received an MBE for services to heritage in 2020. When Leader of Telford & Wrekin Council he set up the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Management Plan and was founder Chair of the U.K. Local Authorities World Heritage’s Forum (LAWHF) to 2005. He is a former English Heritage Commissioner. He is a trustee of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, serving on the IGMT Board for 23 years and was a volunteer driver of the Blists Hill pit winding engine.

Elected to Birmingham City Council in 2012, he has been City Heritage Champion since then and helped establish the popular Birmingham Heritage Week. As Chair of the Jewellery Quarter Development Trust he steered through the £2.1m Lottery funded Townscape Heritage Project investing in the Jewellery Quarter’s historic buildings and sites, including the Chamberlain Clock. To 2016 he led the Council committee overseeing £27m in charitable assets held in trust by the Council and oversaw the creation of the new Chamberlain Highbury Trust.

Philip’s professional background is in HR. He is trained in employment law and is a lay member of the Employment Tribunals. He is a former NHS Trust chair, voluntary sector CEO and Peer Reviewer for the Local Government Association. Since May 2019 he has been Chair of Birmingham’s Licensing & Public Protection Committee.

Phil’s cultural interests include opera, rock ‘n’roll, numismatics and poetry.