Deputy Director, Highways, Active Travel and Strategy, Department for Transport

Policy Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy

Rupert Furness is the head of the Highways, Active Travel and Strategy Division in the UK Department for Transport, where he is responsible for a team of sixteen people and a budget of over £1 billion per annum. He advises Ministers on the delivery of their statutory duties on cycling and walking and on the sponsorship of Active Travel England; the maintenance of England’s local highway networks on which nearly all journeys begin and end; and the funding of local transport authorities.

His previous posts in the Department for Transport have included heading the London Transport team; heading the Environment Strategy team; and managing the implementation of the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. Before joining the DfT in 2003, he worked for a number of other Government Departments including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Cabinet Office.

Outside work, he is a keen cyclist and walker, and at weekends can generally be found on long bike rides or walks across the countryside of the South East of England. He is married with two grown-up children.