Sunderland has submitted its bid to be UK City of Culture in 2021.
This is the first stage of a two-part process, with the winner announced in Hull (the current City of Culture) at the end of 2017. In the first stage initial bids from all candidate cities are submitted to the judging panel today, 28th April 2017. These bids are assessed by the panel and a shortlist of four is drawn up, with those four cities invited to submit second round bids. The second round bids will be submitted on 29th September 2017, and the final decision made.
Eleven towns and cities have submitted bids: Coventry, Hereford, Perth, Paisley, Portsmouth, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Swansea, St Davids (the smallest city in Britain), Warrington, and Wells.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has pledged to give £3m to the winning city and to be successful, the 2021 winner will have to prove its bid is centred around heritage, and that it will build on existing investment it gets from the lottery fund.
Since winning the title in 2013, Hull has received investment totalling £1bn and it is estimated that the city's economy will benefit by £60m this year.
Projections indicate some 1,200 jobs could be created in tourism and culture, that it will bring about a 20 per cent growth in creative industries and that around seven million visitors could contribute to the millions expected to be pumped into the local economy.