CIVIC leaders met the Prime Minister at an event to recognise high achievement.
Sunderland City Council's chief executive, Colin Sinclair, and leader Bob Symonds joined colleagues from 22 other councils judged as excellent in the Government's Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) at the event.
After being greeted in Downing Street by Tony Blair, they shared views on how to continue their progress.
Councillor Symonds said: "We were delighted to be invited to Downing Street to represent the city as one of the top performing councils in the country.
"All the major authorities went through the CPA last year and it is a measure of the progress we are making that we were officially recognised as excellent.
"The next step is to share our expertise with other authorities."
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