Sunderland Airshow permanently cancelled over climate change

Council leaders have confirmed that the Sunderland Airshow will no longer take place.

The popular event which attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the city’s seafront each year has been cancelled and the authority says the "global climate emergency" is a key factor in its decision.

Sunderland City Council is said to be "refreshing" its approach to events and will look to "grow and evolve" the city’s annual programme in response to residents' feedback.

Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: "Our residents have told us that they want to see new and different events, and ones that they themselves can get involved in.”

In light of the new approach to events and the council's ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2030 and the city's to be carbon neutral by 2040, the council has confirmed it has no plans to run the Sunderland Airshow in the future.

Cllr Miller said: "No-one who has witnessed the extreme weather events of recent years, from wildfires and droughts across Europe to the storms and heatwaves we've experienced here this last year, can be in any doubt about the devastating impact that climate change is having on our planet. “

Residents are said to have identified the environment as one of their top concerns. Council bosses and leaders in the city say they have committed to tackling the global climate emergency by reducing carbon emissions making it all the harder to justify events such as the airshow, which generate large amounts of carbon, going ahead in the future.

The event has been cancelled for the last three years due to Covid-19. There was an initial plan to welcome the airshow back in July 2023 but this will now not take place.

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