City Council in the running for prestigious national award

The City Council is in the running for the Most Improved Council category of the prestigious LGC awards which showcase and celebrate the very best in local government.

Its shortlisting recognises the way the City Council has continued to stride ahead with its ambitious plans over the last 12 months against the backdrop of the pandemic, which has required it to work innovatively to find new ways of supporting its communities.

This year's LGC awards attracted a record number of entries from a record number of organisations so making it to the shortlist is a major achievement in itself.

Council Leader, Cllr Graeme Miller, said: "The LGC awards recognise the very real and positive difference that councils make to the lives of their communities. So, we're absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for the most improved council award which is all about showcasing local government's commitment to improvement and highlighting successes in this area.

"This last year has been really tough for everyone but I'm especially proud that despite everything else happening, we have managed to forge ahead with ambitious plans to improve the lives of our residents by making Sunderland a vibrant, healthy, dynamic smart city.

"We have earned a national reputation for our pioneering, innovative approach to delivering services and developing the social and economic fabric of the city and this is having a very real and lasting impact on the lives of our residents."

Among the plans highlighted in the council's submission for the award are:

Smart City 

Sunderland is leading the way as a smart city when it  comes to the digital agenda, with its overarching goal of leaving no  one and nowhere behind. Tangible benefits include helping people to  remain independent and safe at home, helping schools in deprived  communities to use high-speed broadband to transform students'  experience in the classroom and helping businesses to achieve more.

Transforming Sunderland 

Sunderland's ongoing transformation has been enabled by the council, which has spearheaded development, stimulating private sector investment and creating a more dynamic city. 

Riverside Sunderland is the jewel in the crown of the city's regeneration. The UK's most exciting urban regeneration project and a carbon neutral community, it will create 1,000 new homes and 1m square feet of offices. The council kicked the development off with The Beam, now home to Ocado. The confidence shown attracted the attention of Legal and General, who invested £100m in the plans, including the development of City Hall, a new civic hub at the heart of Riverside. Work is now underway on Legal and General's two commercial buildings which will become the workplace of thousands of people when they open.

Other notable projects progressed during 2021 include: Culture House, the UK's best library; A new city centre hotel; A new train station; A new pedestrian crossing over the Wear; The Auditorium, a 450 seat venue; Eye Hospital, a new world-class medical centre.

Elsewhere in the city, a major regeneration project in Seaburn is underway.  £60m will pave the way for the development of Hillthorn Park, a new industrial development in Washington. And the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) is advancing quickly, creating thousands of jobs and establishing a clean manufacturing cluster. IAMP attracted £450m investment from Envision AESC in a new Gigafactory, that will be powered by a renewable microgrid that the council is leading development of - announced in summer 2021.

Improving outcomes for the next generation

The transformation of Sunderland's Children's Services delivered by Together for Children on behalf of the City Council saw it become the first in the country to make the leap from inadequate to outstanding in August 2021. Sunderland became one of just 18 local authorities in England to be rated Outstanding.  Ofsted found children's services in Sunderland have been transformed, making a significant difference to children's lives

The winners of this year's LGC awards are due to be announced in July.

25 March 2022