THE formal bid to crown Gateshead the UK’s next city is making its way to Government chiefs.
Council bosses have spent months compiling the 22-page document which will argue the borough should win the national City Status 2012 Competition – launched by the Government ahead of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations next year.
The bid faces competition from Middlesbrough, Croydon and Reading but holds the hopes of Gateshead councillors, residents and a string of public figures who threw their weight behind it.
Among them are Tyneside business magnate Sir John Hall, sportsman Jonathan Edwards and Great North Run founder Brendan Foster CBE.
Home to the Metrocentre, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the Angel of the North, The Sage and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, the borough the bid will have much to recommend it when judges cast their eye north following Friday’s deadline.
Leader of Gateshead Council, Mick Henry, said the bid, which has been sent to Whitehall, symbolised optimism for the area in dark economic times.
He said: “Gateshead is an ambitious and forward-looking place and in these difficult economic times it’s entirely appropriate that we look to the future and set ourselves a major and inspiring goal.
“Seventy-five years ago, the great depression of the 1930s saw the creation of Team Valley Trading Estate, Britain’s first purpose-built industrial and trading centre.
“Then Europe’s largest shopping and leisure complex, the Metrocentre, was created here in the 1980s.
“Now we are again responding to challenge in a positive way.
“Gateshead is a place I am intensely proud of – we have fantastic assets, a remarkable history and we believe we are a city in all but name. We want everyone to be a part of this bid – that’s why we are uploading our entire bid document to the Gateshead Council website.”
Sir John Hall, the man behind the Metrocentre, said: “Gateshead Council are without doubt one of the most entrepreneurial, forward-thinking, caring and ambitious councils I have met.”
Sarah Stewart, chief executive of marketing agency Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, said: “Over the last decade Gateshead has established itself at the forefront of cultural regeneration.
“Having pushed the boundaries with visionary cultural projects, Gateshead’s success stories are replayed as ‘best practice’ around the world and every city in the UK now wants its own iconic Angel.
“Gateshead has surely earned its right to the kudos associated with city status.
“With a spectacular quayside area, beautiful rural attractions, world-class cultural venues and continued aspirations to develop further in the future – including exciting proposals for an International Conference and Exhibition Centre – Gateshead has a great deal to offer residents and visitors alike.”
:: To view the bid document in full, go to www.gateshead.gov.uk/city
