I'm talking more specifically about the implementation of currently proposed developments rather than the City's overall state and achievements over the last 40 years. However, I agree with what you are alluding to and think that foresight, vision and leaders with character and boldness could have made a difference in what we are currently trying to address.
However, its also important to realise that Sunderland's problems run far, far deeper than local politics. The city rapidly lost its core employment industries between the 60s and 90s, it suffers massively from not being on main transport routes, its new industries have had a massive decentralising effect on the City's core, as well as the effect WWII had on the townscape. It is also fair to say that public sector funding priorities for the region were polarised away from the town in the 80s/90s. Any political party/leader have had a huge and sometimes untenable task on their hands to reverse such decline.
I also think that the Council have to be recognised for recent achievements such as securing massive funding for the new Wear Bridge, achieving World Cup Host City Candidate status (which the Council, not the club, coordinated), winning central funding for various projects such as Barnes Park and the Seafront. Such projects provide the basis and stimulus for regeneration, and I believe the next 10 years will see a greater scale of change than ever seen before in the City.
The council come in for a lot of stick, including from me, but we have to look objectively at what they have achieved and what they have had to deal with before we start blaming them for everything.
