Believe the hype – praise heaped on Durham Heritage Coast
The restoration of the Durham Heritage Coast has been placed runner-up in the second Council of Europe Landscape Awards…
Recognised as “an excellent model for the regeneration of degraded coastal areas” Durham’s Coast was one of only three entrants to be awarded a ‘Special Mention’ for its transformation. A total of 14 countries competed for this year’s award, with the overall winner the Carbonia Project in Italy.
But Durham’s recognition in Europe has garnered national press coverage back home with articles in The Independent and even a leader in the Guardian last Thursday, which said that in contrast to the coast’s dark past, “the rock gleams”. Numerous blog posts have followed, one of which described the award as a “welcome boost” for a county beset economic problems.
Niall Benson, Durham Heritage Coast officer, has a copy of that Guardian editorial on his desk. “The words that came out in praise of the coast made a poignant political message – it wasn’t just our words repeated,” he said. “We’re proud of the award and to be noticed in this way is very special.”
Benson said that award was a strong endorsement of all the hard work undertaken by the Durham Heritage Coast Partnership and the local communities along the coastal strip and it’s an achievement for which everyone involved “should feel justly proud”.
“The coast has emerged from its cocoon. We’re getting enquires from people looking to come and explore it, and hopefully this will stimulate interest from the whole country,” he said.
Jo Watkins, President of the Landscape Institute said: “It is right that we recognise the importance of landscapes and their value to society. Just look at what has been achieved in Durham – an extraordinary transformation that is contributing on so many different levels. It just shows what can be achieved when the full potential of a landscape is realised.”
Transforming Durhma Heritage Coast
A video of the transformation of the Durham Heritage Coast can be viewed at http://www.uklandscapeaward.org/video/durham_heritage_coast.php
From Sunderland to Hartlepool, the Durham Heritage Coast was once scarred by industrial activity. For a century, colliery waste was tipped onto the beaches and into the sea in enormous quantities creating the infamous ‘black beaches’ that provided a bleak backdrop for the films Get Carter and Alien 3.
Work by the Durham Heritage Coast, which began with the Turning The Tide project and the removal of 1.3 million tonnes of colliery spoil a decade ago, was recognised for the transformation of the landscape into one of great natural, historical and geological interest as well as one supporting a growing tourism industry.
The Durham Heritage Coast won the right to represent the UK in the European Landscape Award following its win of the title UK Landscape of the Year in November 2010. Managed by the LI, the UK Landscape Award was created by the European Landscape Convention to promote the value of landscapes and their benefits to local communities.
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The achievements on the Durham Coastline make you proud to be a Landscape Architect and I have copied this information to my local MP to make him aware. There are so many good things going on in the UK and if only the media would focus on more of these positives.
I remember (many years ago now)one of my friends at Manchester Poly telling me about how his family used to collect coal off the beach in the North East when times were hard. As a young and rather poorly traveled student from Surrey I knew nothing about industrial blight and for me the foraging of coal was an image that I could only associate with industry from the previous century. Lets hope that coal and oil blackened beaches are now part of history - albeit a very proud one for the North East.
Congratulations to Niall Benson and to all concerned with this project. Its success is a tribute to the efforts of a huge number of people and organisations. OPENspace research centre, and Dr Katherine Southwell in particular, contributed to the project through an audit and assessment of wayfinding and signage issues along the Durham Heritage Coast. We are proud to be associated with this great achievement.