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County Durham 'Proppa Jobs' campaign aims to put heart back into communities

BBC Pip Fallow standing on waste ground in East DurhamBBC
Pip Fallow is calling for green technology businesses to set up on "acres and acres" of industrial wasteland

A campaign has been launched to "put the heart back" into communities in County Durham hit by the loss of heavy industry.

Builder and author Pip Fallow said some areas were "just bones" following the closure of the area's mines in the 1980s and 90s.

He believes modern industries, such as battery manufacturing, should set up in places like Horden and Easington.

Durham County Council said it had overseen several regeneration projects.

The government did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr Fallow, author of Dragged Up Proppa: Growing Up in Britain's Forgotten North, argues much of his home county has been in worrying decline ever since thousands of jobs were lost due to pit closures.

He has launched a campaign called Proppa Jobs.

Mr Fallow, who lives in Blackhall Colliery, said: "There used to be 3,000 proud men working at Easington Colliery.

"I would look out of my window as a teenager and see hundreds of people walking down the street to the pit.

"After 35 years of de-industrialisation there's nothing. It's had the heart taken out of it of these communities, there are just bones left.

"I'm not being nostalgic. Every car on the planet has to be electric in the next 30 years. Let us have some high-tech, proper jobs on wasteland here that sitting lying idle."

Mr Fallow walking along a street of boarded-up houses
Mr Fallow said decades of de-industrialisation had left some communities as "just bones"

'Bringing hope'

The Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Paul Butler, has endorsed the campaign and described Mr Fallow as "a local man who understands local life and local communities and simply wants to bring hope".

Durham County Council, which recently announced a masterplan to spend £6m in Horden, renovating housing on one street, said issues "can be complex and deep-rooted".

It added it was "committed to investing directly in places through local regeneration schemes" such as the expansion of Jade Business Park on the old Hawthorn Cokeworks site in Murton, which it said had the potential to support 1,000 jobs.

It also pointed to Peterlee Industrial Estate, which it said was "employing thousands of people in the automotive sector".

It has offered to meet with Mr Fallow to discuss his concerns.

Pip Fallow alongside a statue of a coal miner with his heart ripped out, symbolising the loss of heavy industry in the area
The loss of heavy industry in parts of County Durham is symbolised by this statue of a miner with his heart torn out
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