On Wednesday morning (17 September) I met in Durham with county planners and directors of the Proppa Jobs Campaign (PJC), a community interest company led by local lad Pip Fallow, to see how I could help to support and develop PJC's campaign to bring an innovative project to East Durham - initially through its Project Datafields project.
In its own words the PJC's proposal seeks to establish a plan to develop one or more data centre sites in East Durham and harness pioneering mine water cooling technology to attract new businesses to the area. The project is part of PJC's wider campaign to reindustrialise and regenerate the coalfield villages of East Durham.
Following extensive consultation with local communities over the past two years the PJC is ready now to move into the first of its three phases to bring to life an exciting new initiative that has the potential to bring much-needed jobs to Blackhall Colliery, Horden and Easington on the East Durham coast.
All three settlements led the way in coal production during the 20th century, but since the pits were closed the former-colliery sites have remained unused. The PJC has seen an opportunity here to utilise those sites through Project DataFields, designed to tune into a burgeoning global tech industry.
The specifics of the proposal are focused on using abundant supplies of underground mine water to cool data centres - something that would reduce the running costs of data centres, attracting associated businesses to East Durham and ultimately acting as a catalyst to bring much needed high end jobs to our pit communities.
The first phase of the scheme includes securing seed funding to run a Research & Development project to pilot the efficiency of using disused mine water to cool data centres. At the same time the intention is to earmark the use of former mining sites by re-zoning potential industrial locations in the county council's County Durham Plan which is scheduled for revision from this year.
Integral to the project's success is local and political buy-in. To that end, the PJC invited elected local county councillors from East Durham to come along to discuss how barriers can be broken down, clearing the way to implement the subsequent phases of the project - hence the meeting held yesterday.
One of the first steps discussed yesterday was establishing a local working group to include local government officials, elected county councillors, the Mining Regeneration Authority and of course members of the PJC with the intention of steering the project through each of its individual stages.
As stated by PJC the potential outcomes of Project DataFields include:
Jobs: focused primarily on construction and operational jobs in data centres, maintenance work, cooling and plant engineers, security work and logistics. There are also indirect employment opportunities in sector services and the associated supply chain
Economic Activity: boosting local and regional economies, increasing the local tax base and bringing forward new business entrants
Carbon Reduction & Sustainability: leading to reduced energy consumption, pairing with associated renewable energy initiatives, lowering water consumption, potential reductions in dependence on grid electricity and a reduced carbon footprint
Rebalancing the Regional Economy: to be achieved by addressing historic underinvestment in former coalmining communities, reusing derelict pit sites, reducing the impact of commuting to nearby towns and villages and increasing social cohesion
Reputational Integrity: in leading the way in mine water cooling techniques and attracting additional innovation, R&D initiatives and exportable local expertise
From the potential benefits outlined above it looks to me that PJC has tapped into an exciting new innovation that could have a tangible and transformative impact on our communities in Blackhall Colliery, Horden and Easington. But the scheme is still at its early stages and needs the buy-in of our local communities and decision-makers in local, regional and national government to bring it to life.
From what I've seen so far I think the Project DataFields initiative deserves wholehearted support, and I've assured the PJC that I'll help where I can as the scheme progresses.
The next steps include establishing the local steering group mentioned above and then applying for feasibility and R&D funding to guide the way forward. PJC are actively working to establish those first steps and they've assured local communities that they'll continue to be at the heart of the project and will be kept up to date with progress as the scheme develops.
