UK City of Culture 2025: County Durham’s Bid

Paul Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 27th April 2022 Westminster Hall

[Paul Howell (Sedgefield) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered County Durham’s bid to become the UK’s City of Culture 2025.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. It is a delight to see colleagues from across the political parties, and from Durham and further afield, in the Chamber.

After much work from Durham County Council and many other organisations, I know that I am not alone in feeling thrilled that our bid has placed us among the four finalists, although I never doubted we would be. Having watched the debates on city of culture bids from two of the other finalists, I admit that we face stiff competition, but Durham is no ordinary county and is the most worthy of being the 2025 city of culture. I am confident that we can demonstrate that.

Our case can best be summarised by the historical motto of the Durham Miners’ Association:

“Into the Light: The past we inherit, the future we build”.

Let me begin by discussing that history, because from Bede to Beveridge, we have quite a lot of it.

If there is one landmark associated with Durham, the land of the prince bishops, it is undoubtedly Durham cathedral. Construction began in 1090; it is well over 1,000 years old and has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1986. In addition to its stunning architectural beauty, it holds the remains of the Venerable Bede and St Cuthbert’s relics. It forms part of the Camino Inglés—the English way—which is a walk that includes Finchale abbey, Durham cathedral and the seventh-century Saxon Escomb church, south of Bishop Auckland. Before I came to this place, I had the opportunity with the rotary club to visit that ancient church on several occasions. That is the route traditionally taken by northern European pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

A comparatively more recent religious site in Durham is Ushaw college, which was founded in the 19th century by Catholic scholars who fled the French revolution. For a mere 200 years, it served as the primary seminary in the north for training Roman Catholic priests. It closed in 2011, but the site remains important to the area, as it now houses the Durham University Business School and the Ushaw college library. Its buildings and gardens provide an excellent day out for tourists and locals alike.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

In this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, culture, tradition and history are so important, so I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s bid. Does he agree that the rich history and heritage of the City of Durham, coupled with the community mindset, as outlined by the wonderful Tree of Hope in its bid, shows the strength of the proposal? That needs to be recognised at every level, and part of that is clearly to be the UK city of culture.

[Paul Howell]

I could not agree more. We must recognise at every level how important city of culture status is and the value it can bring to Durham.

Alongside the cathedral is Durham castle. We have lots of castles, including Brancepeth, Lumley, Lambton, Walworth, Witton, and, of course, Barnard Castle.

Aside from its religious significance, Durham has been a place of technological and social innovation. I will come on to the history of the railways in a moment, but first I want to discuss the town of Newton Aycliffe in my patch. It was the very first of the post-war new towns. It was founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act 1946, and William Beveridge, the architect of the modern welfare state, chose it as a flagship new town to demonstrate how the new welfare state of council housing, free education and full employment would work. Beveridge became the chairman of Aycliffe Development Corporation, which, he said, aimed at

“making a town better than anything in the past, a town that will be an example for the future. We shall do our utmost to make the town both happy for its inhabitants and famous as an example to Britain and the world.”

Although the country and the welfare system both look considerably different today from when Beveridge set out his plans, the pandemic has demonstrated what an important role the Government play in our lives.

Any debate about Durham county of course must mention its mining heritage. Durham County Council has taken the city of culture bid’s motto from the miners’ association. The last of the mines closed a generation ago and we are looking to the bright future ahead, but we cannot forget the role that mining played in developing and sustaining the area for so long. My grandfather went down the Dean and Chapter mine in Ferryhill, and we remain proud of our mining heritage even if it no longer supports our economy. A visit to Redhills, the Pitman’s Parliament, is an absolute must for anybody who visits the area.

I know my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden) would likely have raised Killhope, but since he cannot, I will do it for him. Otherwise known as the north of England lead mining museum, it opened in 1984 after decades of neglect and is located in the North Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty. Naturally, it has won a number of awards. It has one of only two surviving William Armstrong waterwheels and is a highly educational experience for anyone interested in learning about the area’s lead mining history. I am sure my hon. Friend would also mention cultural landmarks such as the Empire theatre in Consett, the Roxy project in Leadgate, the Weardale Museum and Jack Drum Arts.

In addition to the cathedral and mining, rail travel is a crucial aspect of Durham’s history. The Stockton and Darlington railway first opened in 1825, meaning that the city of culture year will coincide with the bicentenary of the celebrations of that historic line. I hope that combining the Stockton and Darlington bicentenary with the city of culture celebrations will also give the necessary impetus to restoring Locomotion No. 1—not the engine, but the pub that used to be Heighington station on the Aycliffe levels, which is where Locomotion No. 1 was first assembled and put on the line. It is currently up for auction for a second time, and I hope the new owners will renovate it sensitively to demonstrate our rail heritage at its best in time for 2025.

As far as political history goes, one of my predecessors, a Prime Minister, brought world leaders such as George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac to the Dun Cow in Sedgefield and the County in Aycliffe village respectively. Both of those have rooms and excellent food offers for visitors as they come for the event.

Military history also abounds owing to the many battles we had with the Scots and the Picts, as we are so close to Hadrian’s Wall. Our more modern military history is founded on Newton Aycliffe, where the Aycliffe angels made millions of munitions for world war two, many of which were dispatched through Ferryhill station. Hoped-for improvements to the station and the Weardale railway from the railway restoration fund will, I hope, enhance transport to Durham when the celebrations are on.

Durham already has some excellent transport links, which is a clear benefit for any city of culture as it allows people from across the country to visit. Indeed, Durham is almost exactly in the centre of the country, equidistant from the north coast of Scotland and the south coast of England. Since we are on the east coast main line, it takes less than three hours to get to us from London and about the same from Glasgow. For international travellers we are accessible via Teesside and Newcastle airports. Drivers can of course reach us on the A1. Lastly, travellers who want to travel under their own steam can take advantage of the sea-to-sea cycle route. It crosses Durham from the amazing countryside of Weardale in the west to the enchanting heritage coast, which is internationally recognised for its rare plants and wildlife.

If some of those watching the debate prefer nature to city-based activities, we have an abundance of offerings in that regard too. From the upper dales to the coast, there is something for everyone, with plenty of museums in between such as the chateau-style Bowes Museum—a purpose-built public art gallery near Barnard Castle that houses the amazing Silver Swan, which is particularly notable. Of course, one of the biggest attractions in the area is Beamish, an open-air museum that tells the story of life in the north-east of England during the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s over almost 350 acres.

Although being the 2025 city of culture would help Durham develop its enormous potential, I must mention some of the cultural activities that we already have. First and foremost is the Lumiere festival that is put on by Durham County Council every other year. Last year’s celebration saw over 40 art installations throughout the county, and it is completely free to attend. It just so happens that that is on in 2025.

I have spent most of this speech discussing the qualities of Durham that are difficult to quantify, such as our rich heritage, but I want to turn for a moment to what city of culture status would mean for us in economic terms: more than £40 million in direct spending, with at least half of the contracts going to local suppliers; more than 1,000 jobs created or kept; and more than 900usb businesses and organisations benefiting. Durham County Council estimates that by 2029, city of culture status would see an additional 200 creative enterprises, and over 2,500 more creative industry jobs.

In terms of the tourism Durham would receive, the council expects that we would see almost 16 million more visitors, including 4 million more overnight visitors and 3.5 million international visitors. That would result in £700 million more in visitor spending, and up to 1,800 more tourism jobs. Cities across the UK have suffered from the loss of tourism in the past couple of years, but by 2025 we will hopefully be a few years out of the pandemic. I know that being city of culture would give Durham’s tourism industry the boost it needs now more than ever, giving clear support to the Government’s work on levelling up.

Returning to the bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington railway, this event is already of global significance—there are so many people on this planet who like trains. I am sure that the Minister, with his culture hat on, will have already begun scheduling his visit to the 2025 railway celebrations. That is the central point: we can compare our offer of cultural events, coastline, countryside and UNESCO world heritage sites, but it is only Durham that specifically in 2025 offers a globally significant anniversary that will already be attracting visitors from all over the world. Declaring Durham as the city of culture will hopefully mean that all of those visitors will bring their friends, families and everybody else with them to see everything else that can be offered by the county. That multiplier opportunity is why, for 2025 in particular, there can be only one place to award city of culture status—the county of Durham.