06/04/2026
Real change for County Durham!
๐ฏโ๏ธ DRILL DURHAM DRILL โ๏ธ๐ฏ
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"Cheap and abundant energy is foundational to a thriving economy".... ๐ง
It's a point I made with vigour back In January, when we made that pledge to re-industrialise Durham...
It's a point I rant on about in meetings about the future of Durham every time I get the chance... ๐ฃ๏ธ๐ฌ
And it's a point that most of us who live in the real world know it to be true.
Why then do we currently have gas and electricity prices 4-5 x more expensive than some of our friends in developed world?
And what can we, in little old Durham, realistically do about it?
๐ค ๐ค
Well, the answer to the first question is simple - Bad policy from multiple governments...
And the answer to the second question is - Well that's one I've been putting most of my time and energy into answering...
So here's just some of what I've discovered. ๐๐๐
Like in previous generations, the answer to Durham's prosperity may be right beneath our feet.
No, not coal (although I wouldn't necessarily be against that)...
But granite.
A giant slab of it, 5-6km underground, right under the overwhelming majority of our beautiful county...
And we're one of just a couple of places in Britain to have it.
"Alright Kyle, we've got a bit of stone that sometimes gets used to make kitchen worktops, so what?" ๐ค
Well, here's the bit that's exciting...
Granite is a hot rock...
It has element and mineral filled fluid courses already running through it...
We can add more fluid to run through it...
The fluid is VERY hot and we can use that fluid to our advantage.
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We can use it to power turbines and generate electricity far cheaper than can currently be bought from the grid...
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We can use it in dozens of industrial processes and create thousands of jobs in doing so...
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We can use it to extract elements and minerals like lithium and more...
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We can use it heat buildings like schools, hospitals and homes...
AND WE CAN USE IT TO DRIVE A NEW INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION FOR COUNTY DURHAM! ๐ฅ๐ฅ
Okay, that last one might be a bit of a stretch at this stage...
But I refuse to accept that we shouldn't be ambitious.
This can provide us with electricity far cheaper than we can buy it from the grid...
It can generate heat far cheaper than we can generate it currently...
And it can do both with a far smaller footprint and far lower impact on our local environment than any of the other options we have available.
"Sounds great Kyle, but where's the limit of it's potential?"....
Well I've spoken to the boffins in detail and here's what they tell me...
Through deep geothermal alone, County Durham could generate the annual equivalent of 50% of all of the energy being pulled out of the North Sea. ๐ฒ
Think about that for a second...
50% OF THE ENERGY BEING PULLED OUT OF THE NORTH SEA...
See now why I believe it could stimulate a new industrial revolution?
If we can produce abundant energy in Durham... ๐
If we can produce cheap energy in Durham...๐
And if we can produce reliable energy in Durham... ๐
Industry and jobs have reason to FLOOD to us.
Forget cheap energy and jobs for a second though...
Because what I see here is far more important.
๐ ๏ธ I see a chance to finally repair the social and economic decay caused by local industrial destruction...
๐ I see the chance for Durham to be the driving force behind Britian's energy security and industrial capacity...
๐ฐ I see a chance for local renewal, wealth and prosperity...
๐ And I see hope that our kids and grankids have the local opportunities that many of us didn't.
What's not to like?
I have no idea yet where this will go and whether we'll pull it off...
But I do know I've been giving it everything I've got and I'll keep doing exactly that.
Of course we're not daft enough at Reform Durham to put all of our eggs in a single basket...
And so we're of course in conversations about other potential energy sources for Durham...
More on that later.
But in the meantime...
DRILL DURHAM DRILL! ๐
