INTERVIEW
We need more people , more jobs and more businesses in the city centre .
Thinking ahead - Patrick says the council wants to double the city centre population .
“ We have so much going for us here in terms of business – a loyal , committed and hardworking workforce , good transport links , and wraparound support from partners such as University of Sunderland , Sunderland College , the BID and others .”
Patrick said that one area of particular focus was the city centre , where 1m sq ft of office space was being developed for up to 10,000 jobs , while improvements to areas such as the Fire Station , Mackie ’ s Corner , the Elephant Tearooms and the station were ongoing .
He said : “ The city centre is too quiet on weekday evenings because there ’ s no real community there anymore . We need more people , more jobs and more businesses in the city centre . Our plan is to double city centre population and to increase the number of people working there .
“ There ’ s still much to do to improve the vibrancy of the city centre , but it ’ s great to see entrepreneurs such as Simon Whitaker ( Master Debonair menswear ’ s shop ) and Harry Collinson ( owner of Café 1851 ) invest there and their businesses doing well .” He added that the council needed to understand business needs and concerns , saying : “ We need to communicate with businesses and really listen to them . And that ’ s not just huge companies like Nissan , but businesses of all shapes and sizes across the whole of Wearside – not just Sunderland and the city centre , but places like Washington , Houghton and Hetton .
“ We listen to people like Sharon Appleby , who ’ s doing such a great job at Sunderland BID , and Paul McEldon at the BIC . We go along to breakfast meetings and other forums to hear the business voice , and we listen to organisations such as Sunderland Business Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce .
“ We talk to traders in Houghton and Hetton and get feedback from our local area arrangements and from our politicians , who know their communities well .”
Patrick is understandably proud of the level of inward investment in the city . Companies recently creating hundreds of jobs in the city include Ocado , Magna , Amazon , Barclays , Royal Sun Alliance and Just Eat .
“ Our team works so hard , is extremely proactive , persistent and will always go the extra mile to attract new businesses into the city ," Patrick said .
" A good example of this was the work we did with British Esports in order to attract the National Esports Performance Campus , which will be built on Stadium Way opposite the Stadium of Light .
“ They ’ d been looking for a home for the campus for four years , came to Sunderland and were blown away by their welcome , our enthusiasm and approach .”
He added that the £ 100m investment from Legal & General in Riverside Sunderland took a different approach . He said : “ That deal took a more persistent approach – there was a great deal of work went on behind the scenes , as there was with Envision and with Nissan , who announced billions of pounds worth of investment in electric cars at their Sunderland plant last July . Of course , with such a huge investment ,
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