STATE OF THE CITY EVENT
@ CITYSPACE, SUNDERLAND
12th SEPTEMBER 2012
PEOPLE IN SUNDERLAND are invited to the annual State of City event being held at the University of Sunderland’s ‘CitySpace’ on Wednesday 12 September.
For the eleventh consecutive year, a panel of speakers from Sunderland City Council and its partners will answer questions from the audience about issues affecting the city and its residents.
This year’s panel will include Councillor Paul Watson, the Leader of Sunderland City Council, Dave Smith, Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council, as well as Dr Ian Pattison, Chair of Sunderland’s Clinical Commissioning Group, Ken Bremner, Chair of the Sunderland Partnership and Chief Superintendent Kay Blyth from Northumbria Police.
Light refreshments and information stands will be available at the University of Sunderland’s award winning ‘CitySpace’ sports and social facility in Chester Road from 5.30pm.
The main event will begin at 6.00pm and finish around 8.00pm. This will be followed by a brief session until 8.30pm where people will have the opportunity to raise local or individual issues with councillors and staff from the City Council and its partners in small groups or on a one to one basis.
Leader of Sunderland City Council, Councillor Paul Watson said: “This is a hugely important event in our city, because it provides a forum for public discussion and debate on key issues.
“This year the city wide event follows on from the first ‘Your city – Your say’ community events held in each of the five areas of the city. At each of these events residents had the opportunity to ask specific questions about things happening in their area ”
The City Council is also giving everyone the opportunity to submit questions in advance of the event. The top ten most popular questions will then be put online so people can vote for the three they want the panel to answer on the night. These questions will be answered by the panel at the beginning of the event, before questions are taken from the floor
The main discussion will be shaped by the people attending and asking the questions. In the past questions have often been about subjects such as:
- the future of the city centre,
- progress at key sites such as the Vaux and the seafront,
- as well as issues such as tourism, encouraging healthy lifestyles and reducing anti social behaviour.
Everyone is welcome to attend this free annual event and people can register their interest in attending by calling 0191 520 4848 or emailing yourcity-yoursay@sunderland.gov.uk. Alternatively please visit www.yourcity-yoursay.com for more information. Please note that a Sign language interpreter will be available at this year’s event.
