Bishop Auckland Strategic Place Plan

Help shape Bishop Auckland town centre's future

We are starting work in Bishop Auckland with our partner Urban Foresight to find out your views and ideas about how you would like to see the town develop over the next 10 years.

We want this plan to be developed with our communities, so its important that you tell us what you would like to see for the future.

We want to hear from the people who live and work in Bishop Auckland to help shape the future of your town. We want to understand your thoughts on its strengths and opportunities, what can be improved and what we’d all like Bishop Auckland to be in the future.

There are no existing ideas in mind, this vision will be directly shaped by the people of Bishop Auckland from the very beginning.  

Over the next eight weeks, we will be talking to people in the streets, at transport hubs, bus stops, shopping centres, organising drop-in meetings, listening to children and young people in schools, visiting community meetings and local organisations to find out your thoughts on the town's strengths, opportunities, and challenges, and your hopes for its future. 

Developments in Bishop Auckland

Over the past 13 years, our town has benefited from a huge amount of investment and new opportunities. Projects like The Auckland Project and Kynren, along with funding from national programmes such as the Future High Streets Fund, Stronger Towns Fund, and Heritage Action Zone, have brought real improvements to the area.

However, most of this investment has come through programmes designed and led by national or local government, meaning local people have had limited say in setting the priorities. The new Strategic Place Plan aims to shift this approach by placing the community at its core. Through a collaborative process to design a vision for the town, the plan will be locally led, with priorities shaped by the voices of those who live, work, and visit Bishop Auckland.

Bishop Auckland is a great place to live and work, and its location between the Durham Dales and Durham City, makes it a perfect location to visit whilst exploring the riches of County Durham.

Your views

We will use the information gathered from you alongside what we know about the town to develop a draft vision.

We will then come back and ask you again what you think about the vision and start to draw up plans to help us get there.

The boundary map shows the Bishop Auckland town centre boundary. The map is bounded by the A689 and Etherley Lane to the west, Westfield Road to the south, North Bondgate to the north, and Kingsway, South Terrace, Asda and Beech Road to the east. It also includes some of the areas linked to the town centre and which will have an influence on the Vision for the town.

We want to know if you think we have missed any important areas which should be included in the map.

Complete our survey to enter into a free prize draw for a £100 One4All gift card. You will see the terms and conditions and privacy notice at the end of the survey.

Below shows what will happen during the project at each stage, how you can take part in the online surveys, talking to us in the street or at drop in events and where you can pick up a paper survey. The dates for future stages are provision and may change as the project progresses.

For more information visit Bishop Auckland Strategic Place Plan.

Related consultation on increased planning controls

We are also currently consulting on the Bishop Auckland Conservation Area Management Plan and asking for comments on the introduction of additional planning controls that would make people have to ask for planning permission before they can change the look, feel and character of buildings.

There is currently no controls for this in Bishop Auckland, but we want to know if you think we should consider introducing them.

You can have your say on this consultation until 15 September 2025.

Phase three of this consultation closed on 1 March 2026.

For more information contact CED@durham.gov.uk

To have this in a different format contact letstalkcountydurham@durham.gov.uk.