Joy Allen PCC to answer questions on Durham police mast

Joy Allen, Durham and Darlington’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), faces mounting pressure from residents and parish councillors to outline a plan for the historic structure’s re-erection. 

The Grade II-listed concrete tripod structure was installed outside Durham Police’s Aykley Heads base in 1968.

It was dismantled in 2017 to make way for a housing development, but a planning condition required it to be retained and re-erected. 

Yet, it has been laid down in a storage area and covered in tarpaulin ever since. Durham Police later applied to demolish the mast, but its bid was rejected in 2023.  

PCC Allen is due to provide an update on the mast at a police and crime panel committee meeting next Monday (June 8)

Documents show the PCC’s office has explored future options for the structure over the past three years. 

Three potential locations for the re-erection of the mast were recently presented to the PCC for consideration. 

A specialist contractor has undertaken investigations of the mast to look at its condition/viability with a view to re-erection. 

So far, the cost of a feasibility study for the work is around £55,000, but it is set to grow substantially. 

Following the feasibility study, the next process will look into how the mast can be re-erected.

Earlier this year, the City of Durham Parish Council called for an independent probe into the lack of activity as community leaders warned the mast had been “dumped to rot”.  

Responding to the demolition application in 2023, councillors likened any potential demolition to committing “cultural vandalism”, with one adding that it would be “like knocking down Durham Cathedral”. 

But PCC Allen previously warned of the high financial costs it would take to reassemble the mast.