Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Public art

Public art is art that has been made for public spaces, either outdoors or in public buildings. Public art pieces can be in a variety of media and can include temporary as well as permanent work.

There are a range of public art works across County Durham. i see public artwork County Durham (PDF, 962 KB) provides an overview of some of the key works and where they can be found.

If you are considering asking an artist to produce a new piece of public art, there is a wealth of resources available online to guide you through the commissioning process.

Public Art Online provides guidelines on the commissioning process from the perspective of the commissioner and a range of case studies.
ixia is the public art think tank, providing guidance on the role of art in the public realm.
Axisweb has a searchable database of contemporary artists and curators.

If you are developing a larger-scale public art project which potentially has major impact for communities, we may be able to offer a limited amount of support to the project. Please Contact Arts Development.