Council’s reindustrialise pledge

Council leaders have vowed to reindustrialise County Durham in a further blow to the region’s Net Zero ambitions, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Bill Edgar.

The Reform plea urged Durham County Council to “reverse Durham’s decline” and improve access to economic opportunities across the county by positioning the region as the industrial heartland of the United Kingdom. 

Councillor Kyle Genner, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, environment and police relations, said residents deserve a better quality of life and opportunities after several years of decline and deprivation. 

He told councillors: “The towns and villages of Durham were built on industry, and that industry was built using cheap, abundant, reliable energy. Those things were taken away and our industrial communities had their beating hearts torn out. We know what made Durham great, and we know what led to Durham’s decline.”

“Cheap and abundant” energies such as lithium, deep-geothermal, mine water, oil, gas and coal were suggested as options that could be utilised. 

Cllr Genner added: “Our natural environment should be pragmatically protected, but it also contains the natural resources that will help us flourish. 

“We owe it to the people of Durham to show them what they have, and then deeply explore the costs and benefits of extracting and using it.”

Posting on social media after the meeting, Council Leader Andrew Husband said the authority had voted to “reindustrialise County Durham, and pragmatically bring Industry Back to our region and the UK. No more Net Stupid Zero!”

However, the plea was heavily criticised by political rivals, who labelled it “terrible and terrifying” and said it was “falsely framed as something that’s positive or even progressive.”

In July 2025, Reform councillors voted to scrap the council’s climate emergency pledge, which aimed to achieve net zero emissions by 2045 and ran alongside the current Climate Emergency Response Plan. 

And at last week’s meeting, rival Liberal Democrats criticised the ruling party’s rhetoric and tabled an amended motion, urging the council to recognise that economic success and environmental sustainability must move forward together.

Councillor Elizabeth Scott, Liberal Democrat for Neville’s Cross, said: “From energy efficiency projects and sustainable construction, to low-carbon transport and green manufacturing, we have seen growth that reduces emissions while strengthening our economy.

“Cllr Genner’s motion seeks to rip up all of this progress and suggest that the county is at a standing start. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are on a positive trajectory that Reform are seeking to destroy.”

The Green Party’s Jonathan Elmer, ward member for Brandon, supported the aspiration to regenerate industry but warned about the wording of the motion.

He told the meeting: “I’m concerned that this motion appears to be in support of historic approaches that we now know are polluting and unsustainable.”

Data, raised by Cllr Elmer, shows that the County Durham green economy was worth £1.7 billion in 2021/22, with over 600 businesses in the county supporting more than 11,000 jobs in sectors like wind energy, clean building technologies, low-carbon manufacturing, and sustainable food.

“These are the people you are pushing back against,” Cllr Elmer warned. He added: “Don’t suppress this vital work simply because your party has an ideological position against efforts to stabilise our climate and the eco systems.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Mark Wilkes, former cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change, warned: “Reindustrialisation is not about sending our kids down the pit or ripping our environment apart again with open cast coal mining, which seems to be what you want. That’s financially and morally unacceptable. It will damage people’s health, it will damage the landscapes of our county, and it will damage our standing in the world. It’s nothing short of madness.”

Reform previously said scrapping the council’s climate pledge means it can focus on other key services, including funding difficulties in adult and children’s social care.

Now, it says the region can become a “central cog in the inevitable effort to re-industrialise Britain”. 

Councillor Stephen Gray, Reform cabinet member, added: “Re-industrialisation is not nostalgic, it’s realism and it’s practical. If we are serious about economic renewal, we must start with energy. Cheap, reliable, locally-sourced energy is the foundation of every successful industrial economy and Durham is uniquely placed to provide it again. 

“Former mining areas can once again become energy producers, not forgotten places. An economy first approach is not anti-environment, it is pro-community, pro-jobs and pro-future.”

Cllr Genner’s motion was passed by the council after the Liberal Democrat amendment was defeated. 

Darren Grimes, council deputy leader, said: “I look out of my window in North Durham and I see beauty. I think of the people that came before me and I think we do them a great disservice if we don’t continue to exploit the many energy and economic opportunities that we will have if we shake off the noose of Net Zero.”