Infrastructure Policy Panel: Reeves' first spending review

Jonathan Spruce

Jonathan is a civil and transportation engineer with over 30 years’ worth of wide-ranging experience working for the public and private sectors.

He is a divisional director for transport at Stantec and is an experienced advisor to the public and private sector, regularly providing advice at a senior level to local authorities and partnerships in the UK, aimed at the development of integrated transportation and regeneration solutions aimed at supporting economic and social growth in towns and cities.

He is a Fellow and Trustee of the Institution of Civil Engineers, currently acting as Chair to the Policy and External Affairs Committee and the ICE’s Policy Fellows Network. He recently gave evidence on behalf of the ICE to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee inquiry into Strategic Transport Priorities.

Martin Farrington

Martin Farrington worked in local government for 35 years and was the director of city development at Leeds City Council with responsibility for the physical, economic and cultural development of the city for 14 years up to September 2024. His work included leading the second largest local planning authority in the UK, regularly dealing with more than 4,500 applications every year.

During his time in Leeds, Martin led the £180m Leeds Flood Alleviation schemes 1 & 2, the delivery of the First Direct Arena, the redevelopment of Headingley Stadium and taking Leeds Bradford Airport from public to private ownership in 2007.

Martin also led the proposals for regenerating the South Bank of Leeds City Centre, which includes working with Network Rail on the redevelopment of Leeds Station, the restoration of Temple Mill for the British Library North and the delivery of a new city centre park.

Martin also led the development of the £136m East Leeds Orbital Road which opened in 2022 which facilitates an urban extension of some 4,500 new homes, and he supported the growth of the city’s retail core through £500m of investment in the development of Trinity Leeds and the Victoria Gate John Lewis scheme.

Sabrina Mercer

With a background in Business Studies and Economics, Sabrina has worked in the energy industry for over 20 years in a variety of commercial roles, starting in traditional fossil power generation and moving increasingly into more renewable operations. 

She is currently head of strategy for Siemens Energy UK&I and thrives on building strong cross-discipline networks and fostering collective leadership, for example in co-developing the original business model for the GeoPura, a high-tech start up company dedicated to providing clean energy solutions to a wide portfolio of industries. She is co-lead of the “Energy Transition Game”, which aims to help people of all ages understand the complexities behind this great challenge.

Passionate about the energy sector, Sabrina sees the opportunities and challenges her company faces as a mirror to the wider energy transition.