We are engaged in a number of projects which explore tangible and intangible heritage, looking at themes of place and environment. 

We are currently running a pilot project 'A Place Like This', using oral history to inform planning policy. The 1951 Local Development Plan for County Durham categorised the county’s settlements on a scale of A to D. The Category A settlements were considered vibrant and growing, while those in Category D were thought to be unsustainable: the plan was to re-house their residents and demolish the buildings. After a grass-roots fight-back, many villages survived. The policy was reversed in the late 1970s but had long-term social and economic consequences for the region.

Thanks to a Catherine Cookson grant awarded in 2019, Sue Bradley (OHU) is working with Paul Cowie (Centre for Rural Economy, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences), who brings expertise in planning policy and community development, and Anne Tindley (HCA), founder and first director of the Centre for Scotland’s Land Futures, to research place-based memories in former Category D villages, and to consider the role such memories play in how people envisage a future for where they live today. Another aim is to help communities affected by traumatic past events to better plan for the future. Project partners include: Northern Heartlands (HLF and ACE-funded Great Place scheme); playwright Christina Castling; producer, Carole Wears; and residents of County Durham.

We are delighted that PhD candidate Katherine Emmerson-Waugh (HCA), has been awarded a Northern Bridge placement hosted by Northern Heartlands to work with the team. Katherine is conducting archival research that will inform public debates with the project team at performances of ‘A Way Home’, Christina Castling’s new play about the Category D villages, which tours the North East this summer.