{"id":23443,"date":"2019-07-30T18:29:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T17:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=23443"},"modified":"2019-07-30T18:29:20","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T17:29:20","slug":"ihbcs-heritage-from-the-doorstep-durham-cc-to-spend-1-1m-backing-the-revamp-of-historic-pitmans-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=23443","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s \u2018Heritage from the doorstep\u2019: Durham CC to spend \u00a31.1M backing the revamp of historic Pitman’s Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"website\"Chronicle live<\/em>\u00a0 has reported on how the local Grade-II listed Durham Miners’ Hall, known as Redhills, is both a local and national heritage treasure, as Durham County Council (CC) is to spend \u00a31.1 million on backing the revamp of this historic Pitman’s Parliament.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Chronicle live<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n

Council bosses have agreed to invest more than \u00a31 million to secure the future of one of Durham’s most prestigious buildings. The Grade-II listed Durham Miners’ Hall, known as Redhills, is both a local and national heritage treasure. Built in 1915, it housed the Pitman’s Parliament where colliery delegates took important decisions that transformed the county. This ranged from building homes and welfare halls to setting up community hospitals and libraries.<\/p>\n

With urgent repairs needed to secure the future of the building, Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) hopes to transform Redhills into a community and arts hub. However this is subject to a \u00a34million bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support the \u00a36.7 million project. This week, Durham County Council’s Labour leaders offered a helping hand to the scheme which needs match funding to secure the lottery funding. This included donating \u00a31,103,615 to the project to boost fundraising efforts. The DMA has already secured \u00a31 million of match funding and raised \u00a350,000 of the remaining \u00a3600,000 needed. However, the council funding is considered crucial to sustaining the venue for future generations.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, (July 10) Durham County Council’s Liberal Democrats raised questions about the scheme. Leader of the group, Coun Amanda Hopgood, praised the efforts of DMA to improve and protect heritage around mining and trade unions. But she asked for reassurances that council leaders would have a say on the project in future to \u2018protect the council’s investment and the future of the building.\u2019 Concerns included the council having a seat at the table in discussions around the building’s future and rules around \u2018giving public money to a political organisation\u2019. \u2018An investment of this size should not be undertaken without a clear and transparent line of accountability for the council,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n

Cabinet member for Transformation, Culture and Tourism, Joy Allen, confirmed several conditions would be attached to the funding decision. This includes regular updates and checks around grant payments which would help provide \u2018assurance and accountability\u2019. Durham County Council will also have a place on the Redhills project steering group and representation on the board of a charity which will be set up to run the centre. Coun Allen added: \u2018Whilst political objectives do not prevent an organisation from requesting and\/or being granted financial assistance, funding cannot be used to further those political objectives. It’s also appropriate to note that the National Lottery Heritage Fund are considering an application for the project and similarily funding cannot be used to promote the causes and beliefs of a political organisation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Redhills was selected by Historic England as one of the 100 places that bring the country’s \u2018rich and extraordinary history\u2019 to life. A recent inspection indicated the building would be rendered unusable unless a full roof repair is carried out within the next five to ten years. New plans aim to transform the site into a vibrant community centre, arts hub and centre of research for all ages. Cabinet member for Children and Young people on the council, Coun Olwyn Gunn, also welcomed the plans. \u2018I think that this proposal will ensure a modern use for a very important historic building,\u2019 she said. \u2018The county has a very strong mining heritage and this can provide the background for future generations to learn about their history while developing the skills and interests which will also shape their future.\u2019<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chronicle live\u00a0 has reported on how the local Grade-II listed Durham Miners’ Hall, known as Redhills, is both a local and national heritage treasure, as Durham County Council (CC) is to spend \u00a31.1 million on backing the revamp of this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23445,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23443\/revisions\/23445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}