The City of Sunderland has a growing population of just under 300,000 and is to be found on the north east coast of England at the mouth of the River Wear, with access to some of the most beautiful countryside in England. The City of Sunderland is the largest in the North East region.

Historically the local economy was built around heavy industry, mainly coal mining, ship building and glass making but between the 1980’s and 1990’s the first of these two industries disappeared entirely with the third finding itself greatly diminished. Since then the City has seen significant regeneration and environmental improvement. These include redevelopment of the riverside; a new university campus at St. Peter's, one of the foremost sites of early Christianity; the Stadium of Light; a National Glass Centre; transformation of the City's major park and museum including a spectacular new Winter Gardens and a new City Library and Arts Centre. The multi million pound redevelopment of the city centre is also well underway with more recent investment to the tune of £100 million being input into the Rainton Bridge South Business Park.

Furthermore, Sunderland has excellent transport links which open it up with ease to the rest of the country, both by public transport, by road and by air with two nearby airports. The City is excellently situated to connect to major north-south A1 and A19 trunk roads and has a frequent metro service which runs to the neighbouring Newcastle.

Organisational Structure

Sunderland City Council has 13,250 employees across four directorates. These services are split into the following areas:

• Chief Executives Office
• Children's Services
• Health, Housing and Adult Services
• City Services
• Commercial and Corporate Services

The Council's management function for all of these services is comprised of the Executive Management Team (EMT) which leads on the strategic management and direction of the Council and focuses on performance, value for money and governance issues.

Political Structure

The Council at Sunderland has been Labour-controlled for many years; and currently the political composition is as follows:

Since 2002, the Council has operated under a Leader and Cabinet model. The Cabinet consists of the Leader, Deputy Leader and eight portfolio-holders for resources, children and learning city, prosperous city, healthy city, safer city, attractive and inclusive, sustainable communities and responsive services and customer care.

Performance

Overall Sunderland City Council performs well.

The Council's use of resources is good and has scored 3 out of 4 overall. The Council manages it finances well, particularly financial planning and there have been no significant overspends in recent years. The Council has appropriate levels of balances and reserves. Governance of the business is good. Risk Management is excellent and has been used to especially good effect on the Building Schools for the Future project and in preparing the medium term financial plan. Despite strong leadership and a number of ongoing projects, there is still a need to ensure the careful use of natural resources is fully included in all of the Council's activities and plans.

Sunderland City Council manages performance well, scoring 3 out of 4. Their services are helping to improve the quality of life for people in Sunderland. There is positive achievement in a range of key 2008/09 performance indicators. This includes reducing health inequalities and crime, increasing employment and education opportunities for young people and improving the environment.

Further details on our Organisational Assessment and Area Assessment are available by following the links.

Useful Links

• Corporate Improvement Plan 2009-2010 to 2011-2012
  
• Chief Officers Structure Chart
• Local Area Agreement 2008-2011
• Multi Area Agreement
• Economic Masterplan.PDF
• Sunderland - Our city, our story.pdf
• Annual Report.pdf
• Annual Report Summary.pdf

For further information about the Council, please visit http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/ .