A clean and tidy Sunderland will attract more visitors

Almost 1,000 readers recently took part in our Big City Survey, answering questions on a range of issues that affect everyday life on Wearside.

What emerged from the responses was that many of you feel cleanliness of public spaces and litter problems are a big problem in the city and give both residents and visitors alike a bad impression of the place we call home.

So we think it’s time to do something about that – and get EVERYONE involved in making Sunderland a smarter place in which to live, work, study and visit.

Sharon Appleby, head of business operations at Sunderland Bid, knows a cleaner city would bring a financial boost to the local economy.

Recently, the Bid teamed up with thousands of students from Sunderland College to carry out a major clean-up in the city centre, including Park Lane Market.

Sharon said: “A clean and tidy city is a must if we’re to attract visitors and at the same time encourage local people to use the city centre for shopping and spending their leisure time, so we absolutely applaud any initiative that will help achieve that aim.

“At the Bid we’ve already worked towards this with our Project 100, where thousands of students from Sunderland College helped clean up the city, which included litter picking and this will be happening regularly

“It’s important that we have a sense of pride in Sunderland and that everyone gets behind the Clean Streets campaign.”

Also lending backing to our Clean Streets campaign is Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott, who is calling on everyone to “take responsibility for their actions”.

Julie said: “I support the campaign the Echo has launched.

“It is an issue that residents raise with me frequently and people, need to take responsibility for their actions.

“Most people are brilliant and a few make life less pleasant for the rest of us.”

Millfield Councillor Niall Hodson, a Liberal Democrat member on Sunderland City Council, added: “Echo readers are right on the money – the cleanliness of our city is the number one concern amongst Sunderland residents, and it’s about time that the council sat up and took notice.

“It’s true that the council is facing budget cuts – but so is every other local authority in the North East, and yet the streets of Newcastle, Durham and Gateshead are much cleaner than ours here in Sunderland.

“The council needs to get a grip on this issue as a matter of urgency.”