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Sunderland City Council
Type
Type	Metropolitan borough council
Leadership
Mayor	Allison Chisnall, Labour since 15 May 2024
Leader	Michael Mordey, Labour since 20 May 2024
Chief Executive	Patrick Melia since August 2018
Structure
Seats	75 councillors
Political groups	Administration (53)   Labour (53) Other parties (22)   Liberal Democrats (12)   Conservative (10)
Joint committees	North East Mayoral Combined Authority
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Motto
Nil desperandum auspice deo
Meeting place
City Hall, Plater Way, Sunderland, SR1 3AA
Website
www.sunderland.gov.uk

Sunderland City Council is the local authority of Sunderland, a metropolitan borough with city status in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. It is one of five such councils in Tyne and Wear and one of 36 in England. It provides the majority of local government services in Sunderland.

The council has been under Labour majority control since the formation of the metropolitan borough in 1974. It is based at City Hall on Plater Way. The council is a member of the North East Combined Authority.

History

The town of Sunderland was an ancient borough, having been given its first charter (as 'Wearmouth') in 1179. A subsequent charter of 1634 incorporated the town under the name of Sunderland, which had become the more commonly used name.

Sunderland was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. It was then governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Sunderland", generally known as the corporation or town council. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Sunderland was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, independent from the new Durham County Council. The borough boundaries were enlarged on several occasions.

In 1974 the county borough was replaced by a larger metropolitan borough within the new county of Tyne and Wear. From 1974 until 1986 the borough council was a lower-tier district authority, with Tyne and Wear County Council providing county-level services. The county council was abolished in 1986, since when the borough council has again provided both district-level and county-level services, as it had done when it was a county borough prior to 1974. Some functions are provided across Tyne and Wear by joint committees with the other districts. The borough was awarded city status in 1992, allowing the council to change its name to Sunderland City Council.

Governance

Since 1986 the council has provided both district-level and county-level functions, with some services being provided through joint arrangements with the other Tyne and Wear councils. In 2024 a combined authority was established covering Sunderland, County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland and South Tyneside, called the North East Combined Authority. It is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the North East and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across the area.

There are civil parishes at Hetton, Burdon and Warden Law, of which only Hetton has a parish council, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the borough is unparished.

Political composition

The council has been under Labour majority control since the reforms of 1974.

Leadership

The role of Mayor of Sunderland is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2002 have been:

Composition

Following the 2024 election and the subsequent defection of a councillor from Labour to Independent in June 2024, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in May 2026.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2004, the council has comprised 75 councillors, representing 25 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office. New ward boundaries are being drawn up with the aim that they will be ready for the 2026 elections.

• A. Barnes
• B. Castle
• C. Copt Hill
• D. Doxford
• E. Fulwell
• F. Hendon
• G. Hetton
• H. Houghton
• J. Millfield
• K. Pallion
• L. Redhill
• M. Ryhope
• N. St Anne's
• O. St Chad's
• P. St Michael's
• Q. St Peter's
• R. Sandhill
• S. Shiney Row
• T. Silksworth
• U. Southwick
• V. Washington Central
• W. Washington East
• X. Washington North
• Y. Washington South
• Z. Washington West

Councillors

Sunderland's 25 Council wards are each represented by three elected councillors.

Premises

The council is based at City Hall on Plater Way (formerly the site of the Vaux Brewery), which was purpose-built for the council and opened in 2021.

Prior to that the council was based at the Civic Centre on Burdon Road, which had been built in 1970. The Civic Centre was demolished in 2022.

The Civic Centre in turn had replaced the old borough council's headquarters at the Town Hall on Fawcett Street which had been built in 1890 and was demolished shortly after the council moved to the Civic Centre.

References

1. Binding, Chris. "City welcomes new Mayor of Sunderland, as she promises to support amazing work of charities". Retrieved 16 May 2024.
2. Marko, Nic (21 May 2024). "New Sunderland City Council leader begins first day at the job after official vote takes place". Sunderland Echo. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
3. Seddon, Sean (21 June 2018). "Sunderland City Council appoint Patrick Melia as new chief executive". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
4. "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
5. Simpson, David (1999). The Millennium History of North East England. Leighton. p. 1763. ISBN 9780953698431. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
6. Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: Appendix 3. 1835. p. 1734. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
7. Municipal Corporations Act. 1835. p. 458. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
8. "Local Government Act 1888", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1888 c. 41
9. "Sunderland Municipal Borough / County Borough". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
10. "Local Government Act 1972: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70 (sch. 1), retrieved 25 March 2024
11. "The Metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/137
12. "Local Government Act 1985", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1985 c. 51, retrieved 29 March 2024
13. "No. 52874". The London Gazette. 26 March 1992. p. 5413.
14. "The North East Mayoral Combined County Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2024/402, retrieved 6 May 2024
15. "North East devolution deal". GOV.UK. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
16. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
17. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
18. "Sunderland". BBC News Online. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
19. "Tyne and Wear: Ward Voting Summaries, 1973-2015". Tyne and Wear Elects. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
20. "Council minutes". Sunderland City Council. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
21. "Tributes to former Sunderland council leader and education chief". Sunderland Echo. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
22. Binding, Chris (21 May 2024). "Outgoing Sunderland City Council leader Graeme Miller gets standing ovation as replacement is crowned". Sunderland Echo. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
23. "Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England". The Guardian. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
24. "Sunderland councillor resigns from Labour Party in what he calls 'anti-democratic removal' of former council leader". Sunderland Echo. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
25. "The City of Sunderland (Electoral Changes) Order 2004", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2004/362, retrieved 3 April 2024
26. "Sunderland". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
27. "Elected Members". Sunderland City Council. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
28. Wheeler, Katy (25 November 2021). "Exclusive - a first look inside Sunderland's new £42m City Hall". Sunderland Echo. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
29. Cordner, Chris (23 March 2020). "13 golden memories of Sunderland as it looked in 1970 - but how many scenes do you remember?". Sunderland Echo. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
30. Morris, Aaron (19 October 2022). "Demolition starts on Sunderland's 'obsolete' Civic Centre, paving way for 265 new homes". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
31. "Sunderland Town Hall". Wearside Online. Retrieved 3 April 2024.

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