Lunchtime Briefing with Cathy Francis, Director, New Towns, Infrastructure and Housing Delivery, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Cathy leads on new towns, infrastructure and housing delivery in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. She is passionate about community, place-making and improving outcomes for the most deprived communities. She has enjoyed a long career working across a number of government departments.

Jessica Matthew has been Director in Local Transport, Department for Transport since January 2021.  This role is key to the overall relationship between local and central government in delivering transport.  The directorate’s remit is wide, and has changed over time, but currently covers:

• The transport aspects of housing including work on New Towns; 
• Spatial planning, including the connectivity tool, which shows how connected key destinations are by public transport and oversight of transport planning decisions known as Development Consent Orders;
• Local devolution including the major transformation in funding the largest English cities through Integrated Settlements and proposals in the Devolution Bill;
• Forthcoming Local Transport Plan guidance so that local authorities can best plan and prepare transport for their areas;
• Leading, as Senior Responsible Owner, the transport projects funded under the Levelling Up Fund (£4.7bn) and setting up the new Local Transport Grant (£2.2bn) which will go to all local authorities in England, outside London and the largest English cities.  

In 2020, Jessica was temporary Director of Strategy and Private Office, covering a maternity leave.  She successfully led DfT’s Spending Review negotiations, jointly with the Finance Director, obtaining a very good settlement.

Prior to that she was Deputy Director for Rail Environment and Digital at the Department for Transport, focusing on decarbonising the rail sector and transforming rail signaling.  She has held numerous previous positions in the Department for Transport and what is now called the Department for Communities and Local Government. These have included responsibility for Road Safety, where she was instrumental in introducing an entirely new regime to clamp down on people driving under the influence of drugs and succeeded in creating harsher penalties for those using their mobile phones whilst driving.  She also held previous posts on Sustainable Travel, where she created the multi-million pound Local Sustainable Transport Fund, enabling local authorities to seek investment for cycling and walking schemes; and held a post to boost the Economic Growth for Cities in what is now called the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

She was also once private secretary to Chris Mullin MP, and therefore appears in his published diaries A View from the Foothills.

Lesha Chetty is an experienced strategic business leader and advisor. Her experience includes strategic real estate advice, regeneration and development, investment, transformation programme and project management, property and facilities management and the support services market.