STIMULATING A LOCAL REACTION

Groundwork East Durham was set up in 1986 as part of a national network of independent "not for profit" organisations. It is a leading environmental regeneration charity making sustainable development a reality in the UK's poorest neighbourhoods. Groundwork operates in partnership with local people, local authorities and businesses, bringing about economic and social regeneration by improving the local environment.

Groundwork is a federation of over 40 Groundwork Trusts, each contributing to a partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors and each delivering holistic solutions to the challenges faced by socially excluded communities. It operates across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is supported by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the regions (DETR) and other Government departments, the Welsh Assembly, local authorities and private sector partners.

Over the past 12 months, Groundwork East Durham has delivered local projects amounting to £2 million. It has planted 2,700 trees, improved 21 hectares of land and 3,500 metres of footpaths and cycleway. Over 7,000 young people have been directly involved with Groundwork projects.

Groundwork East Durham has played an important role in Turning The Tide through the successful completion of a flagship project, the refurbishment of the cliff top Seaham Promenade early on in the programme.

The cost estimate for the prestige refurbishment scheme was three quarters of a million. A £150,000 initial contribution from Northumbria Water unlocked the remaining monies required from the European RECHAR programme and Turning The Tide.

Improvements include new paving, steps and walls, railings, lighting and street furniture, improved access to a lower promenade and the beach, regrading of a forbidding and unsafe culvert area, replacement of semi-derelict fencing around allotment gardens and the incorporation of artworks celebrating the marine and geological life of the coast.

Mosaic paving and small stone carvings are spaced along the Promenade and feature sealife and geological forms. Two 3m high Portland stone obelisks provide focal points and have been carved and textured with fossil like shapes and topped with shell and coral forms. Seats have fish shapes cut out of the metal and pieces end metal starfish and seaweed tendrils wrap around handrails. The new Promenade was constructed during the winter of 1997/8 and was formally opened the following spring.