Lib Dem Council Gets Behind Local Golden Girl

12.00.00am GMT Thu 3rd Dec 2009

Cllr Paul Scriven, Liberal Democrat Leader of Sheffield City Council, has responded to the news that Sheffield's Jessica Ennis has been short listed for the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award by signing the Council up to supporting her. The Council will use its resources, such as the website and e-mails, to get behind Jessica's campaign and encourage people to vote for her after yesterdays full council meeting accepted Paul's proposal.

Paul said "I'm delighted that Sheffield's very own golden girl has been nominated for this prestigious award. It's a fantastic achievement just to be in the running. However, when you consider Jessica had to come back from a career threatening injury to win gold in Berlin I believe that she deserves to win the whole competition.

"The Council will be using it's influence to make sure as many people as possible vote for Jessica. We can easily do simple things like use our website and e-mail."

This year Sheffield will be hosting the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award event at Sheffield Arena.

Paul added "We are immensely proud that we have managed to secure the 2009 Sports Personality of the Year event for Sheffield and are able to showcase our city. What a wonderful story it would be if a local girl managed to win the competition too!"

The 10 nominees will be put to a public vote on the night of the live show, which will be broadcast from Sheffield Arena at 1900 GMT, Sunday 13 December on BBC One. The public will be able to vote for their BBC Sports Personality of the Year by telephone and details of the numbers to phone will be given out during the programme.