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Cllr Julie Dore will stand down as Leader of Sheffield City Council in December

Front of the Sheffield Town Hall

Councillor Julie Dore, Leader of Sheffield City Council, can announce that she will be standing down as Leader next month.

Councillor Dore announced in January that she would not be seeking re-election as Councillor for Park & Arbourthorne when her term was due to expire in May this year. She has served as a Councillor since 2000 and Leader of the Council since 2011. However, when the local elections were cancelled due to the pandemic, she stayed on as Leader to help tackle the Coronavirus pandemic in the city.

A new Leader of the Labour Group will be elected on Monday 7 December. Councillor Dore will remain as a Councillor for Park & Arbourthorne Ward until her term expires in May 2021.

Councillor Julie Dore, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: 

“When I announced in January that I would not be seeking re-election in May, no one could have predicted the events that were about to unfold over the coming months . When the COVID crisis hit in March and the local elections were cancelled I thought that it was the only right and responsible thing to do to stay on to help navigate Sheffield through the crisis.

“The current situation has impacted on all of us in some way, we have all been touched by it and I am proud of the way that the city has come together to support each other. I am proud of the role that the council has played in providing support to the people most in need and most impacted by this situation as well as getting support to our businesses. Whilst at the same time continuing to run and operate the day to day services for the people of Sheffield. Doing all of this whilst having to adapt to new ways of working in the same way that so many different organisations and businesses have had to during the pandemic.

“As a city we have come together across our communities and so many different organisations to fight this pandemic to I would like to thank everyone that I have worked with over this period. We have worked with councils across South Yorkshire and I would like to thank the other South Yorkshire Council Leaders and Mayor Dan Jarvis for the joint work we have undertaken together as a region, which has been crucial.

“Clearly this is still far from over and we still have much more to do to beat this. But I think that now is the right time to allow a new Leader to take over, as we enter a new year and a new Chief Executive will also be starting in January.

“As I said when I announced I would not be seeking re-election, it has been such a great honour to serve my community as a councillor for 20 years and the city that I love as Leader of the council for nearly 10 years. I have always said that for me Sheffield is the best place in the world, I have lived here all my life, raised my family here and there is nowhere else I would ever want to live. I would like to thank everyone who I have worked with in this time, it is the people of Sheffield who make this city what it is and it has been a privilege to serve them.”