Redhills Pitman’s Parliament aims to renew County Durham’s former coalfield communities

REDHILLS’ famous ‘Pitman’s Parliament was called into session for the first time in more than 30 years at the weekend to explore ways of rebuilding local communities.

The iconic Durham building, former home of the Durham Miners’ Association, hosted a two-day Redhills Assembly with the mission: ‘Rebuilding Our Coalfield Common Wealth.’

This time, though, instead of the impressive debating chamber being filled with miners, it was filled with some of their descendants and a host of grassroots community groups discussing ways to improve life for people in County Durham.

Stockton North MP, Chris McDonald, a long-time supporter of Redhills and a trustee, opened the Assembly, welcomed attendees and wished them success in the meeting’s mission to rebuild shared wealth in communities.

He said: “In their day, with the money they earned, the miners invested in care and education and social provision – the common wealth – but most of the money made from the coalfield left the area.

“Now, it’s about how we bring money back to the County Durham communities and keep it there. What are the ways that people and groups can come together to make that happen?

“This ties in very much with the Government’s current talk of devolution and empowering people locally to make sure that our young people stay with us in this area and build brighter futures.”

Redhills CEO, Andrew McIntyre, whose team staged the ambitious event, said: “It was the culmination of the past two years dealing with so many different groups in the community and bringing them and their ideas together and creating new ones.

“It was a proud moment because people were very clear when we were restoring Redhills that they didn’t want it to be a museum or a place that looked backwards.

“They wanted it at the heart of the community, and they wanted it to be forward-thinking and a place of hope, and with the Assembly, that’s what it was – people sitting in the Pitman’s Parliament, sharing ideas and conversations and looking to build a better future for the people of County Durham.”

Redhills once faced an uncertain future after the end of mining in County Durham saw the Edwardian mansion decline, but £14m has been invested in recent years – £9m from National Lottery funding, £5m from trade unions and the local community – and the building is now a great blend of past and present, powered by clean, renewable geothermal energy.

The two-day event saw talks given by groups including the Sacriston Youth Project, Horden Heat, Communities CAN, Durham Energy Council, Ancestral Reverb, Sea Change Hartlepool and the Sunderland Lit and Phil.

A group from the city of Boston, in the USA, gave a talk called: ‘When The Community Owns The Money,” sharing their experience of generating funds that can be ploughed back locally.

Adam Cooper of the Threads in the Ground project also said talks were underway about a Community Energy solar farm in County Durham that would send money back into the community to invest and spend.

“The last time the average person in the UK could really own their own energy was around the 1650s, when you could walk out to the commons, chop down a tree and burn it,” he said.

“For 400 years, all the wealth created through our energy has been captured elsewhere – by the landed gentry, the church, distant conglomerates. 

“Now, for the first time in hundreds of years, it is possible for an average person, for a community, to own energy infrastructure in the shape of a solar farm.

“We can see the energy revolution taking root in the landscape all around us, but it’s largely being financed and built along the same old models – many of the companies building this infrastructure are subsidiaries of the big fossil fuel companies.

“What County Durham needs is more community energy, and I was at a Redhills Conference in the past week where three different wealth fund managers said that they are desperate to fund more renewables projects in the North East.

“Meanwhile, the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority is determined to accelerate the green transition, and community ownership of it.

“So there’s a real potential here for the people of County Durham to own their own energy in a way they previously never did and profit from it in all sorts of different ways.”

That was a point picked up by the Durham Energy Council – a collection of individuals from former coalfield communities – which has called for a green transition in which people can share in the profits and benefits generated locally.

Redhills CEO, Andrew McIntyre, added: “I’m enormously proud of how well the Assembly went.

“There was a real ‘can-do’ feel about it, a sense of hope, after so long, that we can rebuild our communities.

“ It’s all about developing links and networks, sharing ideas, pooling interests and working together, and this is exactly what the Pitman’s Parliament was all about.

“The last time it was in session was in 1993.”

“This was the first Assembly of the 21st century, but it won’t be the last.

“We plan to make it an annual event now, always conscious of the fact that the past we inherit, but the future we build.”

• Redhills is now open to the public to drop in every Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm. For more information, go to: https://tickets.redhillsdurham.org/event/redhills-sundays-8/2026-12-06/