Nissan placed at the heart of city blueprint

Oct 19 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

PROMISES to change the face of Sunderland have been made as city leaders set out 15 years of investment.

A direct Metro service from Sunderland to Newcastle and the airport, a city centre extending to the riverside and a Masters course in low carbon vehicles are all in the city’s economic vision.

At a launch event at the Stadium of Light yesterday council leader Paul Watson set out how he intends to build up the city despite preparing for a wave of cuts set to hit the North East from this week onwards.

His chief executive Dave Smith admitted the council had already seen projects worth hundreds of millions of pounds frozen and would be unlikely to see these all return fully funded once the Chancellor has announced the results of his comprehensive spending review tomorrow.

Insisting that the economic master plan was robust and based on a cycle which will include “many spending reviews and at least 15 budgets”, Mr Watson set out a plan he hopes will grow jobs in a city which some experts claim had become too dependent upon call centres.

In part the plan involves finalising what is already happening. Responsibility for delivering on the long-running Vaux development, set to create 3,000 jobs, will now be led by the council as regeneration agency Sunderland Arc is closed down.

Mr Watson said: “We know we will be affected by the comprehensive spending review but this plan is robust and flexible and because of the time involved it transcends the problem of the review.”

He added: “We have been successful in building on what this city has, and this is a way of taking that forward again.”

Nissan and the electric car industry plays a substantial part in the city’s future, following on from the decision by the previous Government to make Wearside the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area.

It is thought more electric car part suppliers and manufacturers could be encouraged to set up alongside Nissan.

The car producer will also benefit from a promise to try to reopen the unused Leamside railway line linking Nissan to the Port of Tyne.

Making more of Nissan, the city’s university, its port and its development sites, form the key aims behind the plan.

That includes a £10m office block to help set up new businesses at Tavistock Place, near Mowbray Park.

And it is thought the city could benefit from the thousands of wind turbines still to be built and placed 100 miles off the North East coast, with supply and upkeep jobs available.

Mr Smith said in putting together these plans the city “recognised that the economic recovery will be slow and public expenditure limited”. He insisted it was still “ambitious and achievable”.

John Anderson, chairman of the Sunderland Arc regeneration agency set to be abolished, said he was proud of what his team had done to contribute to the city.

We have been successful in building on what this city has, and this takes that forward again