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Durham County Council
As corporate director for regeneration, economy and growth at Durham County Council, Amy Harhoff is responsible for projects to create a new landscape for the county. She spoke to BusinessiQ Editor Mike Hughes.
Counties are the unique living, breathing and growing parts of our country. Never standing still, always identifying and developing new ways to make these regional capitals the place for families, businesses and investors and protecting and maturing the very essence of what makes them unique is what strong councils are all about. In Durham, heritage and history bond with innovation and job creation throughout the county’s matchless infrastructure – a highly integrated matrix of transport links, developments, technology, skills – and people. Every possible opportunity for an existing company to grow, a new company to arrive or an investor to see what’s happening here is supported at every level – they really are ready for anything.
But this is not a blueprint still going through so many stages of presentation, approval and redrawing. This is happening now. The road to investment and growth is already here and in County Durham the lights are always on green for the right ideas.
Amy Harhoff, corporate director for regeneration, economy and growth, is the proudest flag-flier for everything that is on offer here. The agenda is busy and Durham is already putting plans in place and steel in the ground, and others are so impressed by what they find here that they commit their futures to County Durham.
Amy tells me: “County Durham is taking a very intentional approach to investing in the social and the economic infrastructure to bring out the full potential that has always been here, deep in our roots. That means a lot of the physical economic infrastructure like major transport improvements, public transport schemes and road investments.
“But the attractiveness of our investments is not just about the connections that we need by road and public transport. We’re in a former industrialised area, so land remediation is a vital consideration to unlock growth.
The other element of the growth strategy is, of course, the people who live and work in County Durham. The county’s Inclusive Economic Strategy makes it clear that people with the right skills are what will power and maintain that growth when it said: “It is vital that we join the dots between the areas that are doing well in order to improve local wages, quality of life, health and wellbeing for all residents and parts of the county.”
Inclusivity is underlined in every policy and at every meeting – everyone should have the opportunity to thrive in this amazing place. The Inclusive Economic Strategy has been the touchstone for so much of this work, and it makes clear that this is a team effort, saying: “There is a strong feeling that together we can create more opportunities for young people, residents, and businesses to achieve their ambitions. In order to have a successful economy we need to continue to improve our foundations for growth by helping people to learn and develop new skills, be healthier and happier, have supportive communities, and live in good quality places.
“This strategy belongs to all of us, and we need everyone to play their part.” With its global university, pioneering investment parks and having a central role in the broader North East economy, County Durham is on a high paced journey of ambition matched with practical delivery.
And with the council seeing its highest ever spend in regeneration over the last 12 months, forecasting up to £145m and with the next year set to deliver even higher, it has substance behind its ambition.
Under this figure we see massive private sector leverage and the release of jobs and productivity.
Amy says: “We all know the plan and are driving it forward together, delivering locally, releasing private sector leverage and securing money from government – all translating to delivery on the ground. There has been a step change and we can rightly be proud of a long track record of ambition. The investment we see now needs to be sustained long-term and indeed pushed further so whilst we celebrate our successes we have to see this as an ongoing drive.
“For me, it is about understanding the scale of the challenge, but having the confidence to know we’ve done it and will do it again.”
Looking around the county, there are so many places where that plan can be seen in action. But the successful regeneration in Seaham and the investment plans for Horden sum up a lot of what is good about the future of County Durham.
Seaham Garden Village is a new sustainable community to the south of the town, which will comprise 1,500 new homes – half of them provided with more affordable routes to home ownership and the remaining 750 being developed by Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes.
That split echoes the council’s focus on erasing economic gaps around the county, but this scheme, which is part of the Government’s Garden Villages Programme, will also include a UK breakthrough in that it will be heated by mine water.
The Dawdon pumping station alongside the site has been extracting the water for several years to maintain an underground aquifer. But because the water is around 20°C when it is pumped out, there is an opportunity to provide low carbon heating.
All eyes are on the county as the project is being viewed by the UK Government as a key demonstrator project for the rest of the UK. Funding has been secured to part-fund the commercialisation and delivery of the scheme consisting of a Heat Network Investment Project grant of £4.3m to cover £3.230m of construction and more than £1m for commercialisation.
Only eight miles away in Horden, a challenge of a very different kind is also being met head-on, with Durham County Council investing £6m as part of an ambition to provide a better standard of housing and quality of life for local people as it continues to explore further funding opportunities to supplement this investment.
After an extensive consultation with residents, Third Street will now be acquired by the council to be redeveloped to provide high quality housing and a wider regeneration of place.
Improved walking and cycling routes to Peterlee town centre, Horden train station and the Durham Heritage Coast are also included in the masterplan, which Amy says is all about the council listening and working with its communities.
“Horden has had some challenges and a period of underinvestment. As we move into the first phase of investment, I hope we will give people the confidence that this is happening and this is the county’s time to change and grow,” she tells me.
“We will never forget our heritage and history because that has had far-reaching impacts for decades on people and places. But I think it’s now about the ability to positively reinvent ourselves.
“Durham is taking its history and building it into the future and I think that’s probably our real strength here. Taking our natural assets and our history and making them something for today and tomorrow.”
One new element that has the potential to reach every corner of the county and supercharge the council’s work is devolution.
The positivity and momentum gained by residents and businesses seeing their councils working together is vital and most importantly the additional investment that is already being secured demonstrates the value of this decision to local communities.
“Ultimately, by being part of devolution, we’re bringing in funding and profile to the region that it otherwise wouldn’t have had,” said Amy.
“Of course it’s hard work, but it’s good hard work because we’re already seeing the fruits of that with the investment zone, with the funding that’s been secured for regeneration and the potential for brownfield housing - all happening now in advance of the full devolution deal kicking in from May.
“I’m feeling really buoyant about it and I know our members and businesses are as well because we all know you can have your own identity as places and as one place together.
“I’m very confident that, with the maturity and the relationships that we’ve got in the North East, every area will see themselves reflected in the benefits of devolution.
“I think what helps for this county particularly is we’ve got that clarity on some key investment areas, because we have an Inclusive Economic Strategy, an investment plan and investor-ready propositions like NETPark and Aykley Heads and place-led regeneration such as Horden.”
The two sites she mentions are among the most powerful examples of the new County Durham. At NETPark in Sedgefield, the former brownfield site that is now a world-leading science park, the council is already delivering a £62m phase three expansion with the potential to create 1,250 skilled jobs and contribute £625m to the local economy over the next ten years, but the wider development potential of the 72 hectare site is even greater still.
It is a clear winner from devolution as well, having just been confirmed as an Investment Zone ‘Growth Site’ as part of the North East deal.
At Aykley Heads the council has partnered with Durham University to plan a new Durham Innovation District built around a ‘triple helix’ model of public, private and education sectors working together.
“All of these investments we’re making mean we are building a future for County Durham now,” says Amy.
“It’s here, it’s on the ground and it’s going to keep coming. I think we have a confidence that comes with that level of progress, alongside an acknowledgement that we’ve still got challenges.
“But every one of them that we face together creates an opportunity to grow again.”
Other key developments that are changing the infrastructure of County Durham
• A £12.5m scheme to increase capacity at the A19/A182 junction to support the expansion of Jade Business Park near Murton, creating an additional 500,000 sq ft of commercial space and up to 2,000 jobs
• Citrus Group’s £400m Integra 61 development, providing 640,000 sq ft of prime industrial/warehouse accommodation in five units at Junction 61 of the A1(M), supported by council improvements to the road network.
• A £5.6m scheme at the A19/B1404 junction to support housing growth in the area and ease congestion at Seaton Lane crossroads.
• £11.8m of funding from the Future High Streets Fund to provide a new bus station and car park in Bishop Auckland.
• Plans to invest some of the £20m of Levelling Up funding secured for Bishop Auckland on a by-pass that would take the A68 around Toft Hill and Etherley.
• Developing an Eastern Sustainable Access Corridor scheme to provide a new road and car parks for Kynren attraction with £15.7m from the Stronger Towns Fund.
• £11m a year subsidising around 114 local bus contracts including park and ride.
• Two demand responsive transport schemes in the shape of the Link2 Dial-a-Ride for people who do not have a suitable bus service and the Access Bus Service for people who have difficulty getting about.
• Working with the private sector and seeking public sector funding to develop the Forrest Park site at Newton Aycliffe for an initial 830,000 sq ft of speculative industrial development.
• A 35-year lease to support the development of industrial units at Station Place, which forms part of the wider £90m Merchant Park scheme at Aycliffe Business Park.
• Planning to develop speculative business units on land at South Church Enterprise Park in Bishop Auckland for new and young small businesses needing space from 1,000 to 2,000 sq ft.
• An £800,000 Communicate programme, which focuses on literacy and digital inclusion skills, following the delivery of a £2.8m Multiply contract, which focused on equipping people with numeracy skills.
• £5.1m to maintain employment support packages across County Durham at a time when the European Social Fund is coming to an end.
• Contracts with local college and training providers to help hundreds of people gain the skills they need to secure employment, and people in deprived and rural areas.
• Opportunities for hundreds of people who are already in work to upskill and secure higher level qualifications.
• Commissioning a careers framework to make sure that young people and adults have a much simpler way of accessing careers and personal development opportunities, pulling together the offers of the National Careers Service, universities, colleges, schools and various employment support projects.
• £5.32m of Shared Prosperity Fund money to a community infrastructure investment programme, part of which involves supporting capital improvements at 25 community buildings across the county to provide digital suites and volunteering opportunities and reduce the running costs of buildings.
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