UK City of Culture 2025: Durham puts in bid for status

Durham was added to the World Heritage List by Unesco in 1986

Durham has launched its bid to become UK City of Culture 2025, and pledged a win would provide a boost for the whole of the county and beyond.

Durham County Council is submitting the bid on behalf of Culture Durham, a partnership including Beamish Museum, Durham Cathedral and Durham University.

Past winners have benefitted from increased visitor numbers and significant amounts of investment.

Those submitting Durham's bid say it would be a "game changer" for the area.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which runs the scheme, does not provide direct funding for successful cities, but previous winners have received substantial awards from public funding bodies.

Durham hopes to secure the title for both the city and the county, following the announcement that - for the first time - groups of towns are able to work together to submit joint bids.

The city, on the banks of the River Wear, is dominated by the cathedral

The council said a range of community-based events and activities were planned in the run-up to 2025.

There would also be the opening of a new dedicated history centre, a programme of events around the display of the Lindisfarne Gospels in the North East, and a celebration of the 200th anniversary in 2025 of the first passenger railway.

'Culture accessible to all'

Councillor Elizabeth Scott, Durham County Council's cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: "I am more than confident that we can present an incredibly robust and persuasive case for the area to be named UK City of Culture for 2025 and that the combined impact of these will be a game-changer for the county.

"We really want to secure [it] not just for County Durham, but for the entire North East, highlighting the work that is already going on across the region to make culture accessible to all."

Following the deadline for the bids, a panel will draw up a shortlist of six locations, with successful applicants being announced in September.

They will then have until January 2022 to submit their full bids, with the winner revealed in May.