Leadership blog - 31.01.20

It's the 31 January 2020 - the last day of a month that, as I said in my last blog, seems to have flown by having picked up where we left off at the end of an outstanding 2019 for Sunderland.

I don't usually emphasise the actual date in my blog, but today, irrespective of your standpoint, is a day that will stick in a lot of our memories for a long time to come.

11pm this evening will mark the UK's departure from the EU - something voters in Sunderland voted overwhelmingly for - and this will be recognised with the lighting up of landmarks around the city, in red, white and blue.

It is now our job as a council, as it has always been, to work with partners to ensure continued investment in Sunderland,  to provide our 700 plus council services to an excellent standard, to support our children and young people - the future of our city - to flourish, and to protect and support our most vulnerable residents and communities.

Wherever residents or customers sit in the above categories, or any others, in publishing the City Plan recently, we have committed to creating opportunities for all within a connected, international city.

Not only do we have a very clear plan, but we are already making it a reality, at pace, with significant investments and developments set to create new housing, jobs and thriving neighbourhoods right across the city. And there is more to come in 2020 alongside another packed, world-class events and cultural programme.

To ensure we achieve our ambitions, as a council we will always want to work proactively with the Government of the day, and in return Sunderland has much to contribute to the whole country post-Brexit. 

With the arrival of the national media from first light and the Prime Minister and his Cabinet holding their weekly meeting here, today the spotlight is well and truly on Sunderland as a city that is going places with a new, magnificent skyline taking shape more by the week and many more exciting things in the pipeline!

Cllr Graeme Miller
Leader