South West Durham Heritage Corridor

A Brief Description of the Scheme

Between May and October 2006, plans were developed for a new landscape scale project. It was centred on the development of a railway path between West Auckland and Barnard Castle. After two consultation days with members of the local community at Cockfield Primary School it was decided that the project should include the following aspects:

Access Improvements
Archaeology Projects
Biodiversity Projects
Community-led Heritage Projects
Volunteering
Tourism Initiatives
Improvements to West Auckland, Evenwood, Ramshaw and Cockfield
Education and Training

These ideas were worked up into a bid for a Heritage Grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund with the assistance of the West Durham Rural Pathfinder. The first draft of the bid was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund in December 2006.

On discussing the bid with the Heritage Lottery Fund and other funders, it was concluded that the bid in its current form did not meet their assessment criteria and needed more work to appeal to the various funding schemes available. It was therefore decided that the bid would not be submitted in its present form at this time.

Estimated Cost

Ł6.5 million, much of the funding still needs to be raised.

What Stage Are We At Now?

For the moment, we will put the main Heritage bid to one side. However, we still aspire to achieve its aims in the end. A plan of action will be put to the Cabinet of Durham County Council in the autumn of 2007 for their approval. It will suggest the following

Develpment of a landscape-scale plan for the area.
Purchase key lengths of the Railway Path where the opportunity presents itself.
Improvements to West Auckland and Evenwood to occur as soon as possible.
Five Community-led 'Your Heritage' projects to be delivered in the area.

West Auckland Improvements

In West Auckland work is already underway improving the area surrounding the Village Green the project has three distinct parts:

The Historic Buildings and Shopfronts Grant Scheme
Public Realm Improvements
Conservation Area Appraisal

If you require further information on these schemes please contact Val Robson on telephone 0191 3833224 or Tamsin Harrison on telephone: 0191 383 5670

Evenwood Improvements

The Evenwood Urban and Rural Renaissance Initiative (URRI) Scheme consists of two parts:

The Neighbourhood Scheme
The Small Towns and Village Scheme

For further information on both the Neighbourhood Scheme and the Small Towns and Village Scheme contact Tamsin Harrison on telephone: 0191 383 5670

Community Heritage Projects

Groundwork West Durham and Darlington have been working with communities within the project area to identify heritage projects. These projects have then been submitted to the heritage lottery Fund for Your Heritage grants.

Three projects have been approved so far and have started work. They are:

Memories of Stainton grove Military Camp
See more in Cockfield
Gaunless Valley History Trust Website
The development of two other Community Heritage Projects is being funded through the West Durham Rural Pathfinder. Groundwork West Durham and Darlington are still working up the following projects with community groups:
Barnard Castle Rickshaws
Teeside Mercury Project

For more information on these projects contact Sam Jackson at Groundwork on telephone: 01388 662666

Further Details

More details about the project are included in the attached leaflet which can be dowloaded by clicking on the link below.You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this information.

PDF Icon SWD August 2007.pdf (8 pages, 4124kb)

for more information about specific projects going ahead contact the projects officers identified above. To give futher comments about the SW Durham Heritage Corridor Project contact:
Mr Bill Pike
Community Development Officer
Durham County Council
The Rivergreen Centre
Aykley Head Estate
Durham
DH1 5TS
Tel 0191 3708749