Newcastle City Council’s progress in delivering its climate change strategy has been rewarded, as it retained the crown of most sustainable city in the UK.

The annual sustainable cities index pitted the nation’s biggest 20 municipalities against each other and judged them on a range of indicators, including air quality, action on climate change and quality of life for residents.

Forum for the Future selected the North East city as top performer for the second year running, as judges noted its ambitions to become the UK’s ‘electric car capital’ following the start of the installation of 580 charging points in the region.

The city was lauded for putting itself at the centre of an increasingly- vibrant, clean-tech cluster, while maintaining an ambition to become a world-class centre of science and innovation.

Cllr Wendy Taylor, the council’s executive member for transport, said: ‘We continue to promote new technology as we strive to move towards a more sustainable transport future.

‘It is gratifying to have our progress on this and all other aspects of sustainability acknowledged.’

Leicester came in second place, and was praised for having a strong climate change plan and recycling rates, while Brighton came in third, scoring well for quality of life and preparing for a sustainable future.

Bristol and London made up the rest of the top fi ve, while Hull fared the worse, followed by Glasgow and Bradford in the bottom three.

Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future, said: ‘Cities are having to count every penny, so it’s essential that they invest wisely for long-term success. Leaders such as Newcastle and Leicester are developing plans to run services in smarter ways, tackle challenges including climate change, and secure the jobs of the future.’

Dame Margaret Eaton, chair of the Local Government Association, said the index had driven ‘real change’ by inspiring councils to be more ambitious and setting a framework against which authorities could benchmark their performances.

Barry Rowland, Birmingham’s chief executive, vowed to keep sustainability at the top of the city’s agenda.