Local people and organisations across County Durham can work with Durham County Council to help improve the services we provide.
We have established Area Action Partnerships (AAPs) for all areas of the county to help us deliver services, and give local people and organisations a say on how our services are provided.
Latest news
Meeting dates
For details on the latest AAP Board and Forum meeting dates, click on the PDF below:
AAP Board and Forum meeting dates 2010-11.pdf (4 pages, 42kb)
Please note, you should get in touch with the AAP to register your interest. See below for a full list of AAPs in County Durham.
14 for 14
All the AAPs are working with the County Durham Environment Partnership on a host of environmental projects. The projects will help make County Durham cleaner, greener and safer. You can get involved in activities near you, so please visit our 14 for 14 project page.
What are AAPs?
AAPs are key ways of working with local people.
Each AAP is made up of an Area Forum and an Area Board to identify and tackle issues in local communities. AAPs then put plans and actions in place to deliver services where they are needed most.
There are 14 partnerships, each with a Board made up of elected members from organisations such as the county council, town and parish councils, and health, police and fire brigade, community and voluntary groups, and the public.
In your area
You can see how AAPs are organised across the county in this map: 
AAPs in County Durham.pdf (1 pages, 1897kb)
You can also see more information about each of the AAP areas in the Area Action Partnership profiles.
The AAPs are:
AAP structure
Each AAP’s structure involves:
- An Area Forum: for all-comers to meet twice a year to consider issues such as agreeing priorities for the area and reviewing progress of the partnership Board.
- An Area Board: 21 members who will meet at least six times a year to discuss how the AAP is progressing against its action plan, manage spending and work with local partners around service issues.
Each AAP has a budget of £150,000 for local projects and investments, as well as an administration budget for staffing. This will be in addition to the £33,000 per county councillor that will be used for local initiatives, which will be informed by the AAPs.
Frequently Asked Questions on AAPs: AAP Frequently Asked Questions.pdf (3 pages, 37kb)
More details on AAPs: AAP Terms of Reference.pdf (12 pages, 86kb)
What do AAPs do?
AAPs contribute to the county council’s and the County Durham Partnership’s vision. The AAPs work around the four themes of:
- Engagement: working with communities to build a dialogue with communities and encourage local people to be involved in planning local services
- Empowerment: giving people the power to work in partnership with organisations and help them combine their efforts to improve local services
- Local action: developing an action plan for the AAP, and resolving issues by using AAP funding and the resources of the county council and partner organisations
- Performance: monitoring and improving public service performance and supporting the AAP and County Durham Partnership to achieve their aims
Who can get involved?
The Area Forums are open for everyone to attend.
AAPs have been developed following extensive consultations throughout 2008. The key messages coming from the consultations was for the AAPs to be action-oriented, and to avoid talking shops. To help achieve this, the Forums are supported by a Board of 21 members, made up of:
- one third elected members
- one third members of the public
- one third representatives from partner organisations.
All meetings of the Board are open and accessible to all, and town and parish councils have a minimum of one position on the elected member portion of the Area Board.
We are committed to providing the best services for local communities, and AAPs are a key way of ensuring we understand and react to the needs of communities.
The partnerships will inevitably evolve, and the council’s framework will change accordingly.
Recruitment process for AAP Boards: AAP recruitment process.pdf (2 pages, 72kb)
Person specification for AAP Boards: AAP person specification.pdf (2 pages, 57kb)
AAP Board fact sheet: Public representative fact sheet.pdf (2 pages, 71kb)
Why AAPs?
We need to make sure that the services of a range of organisations – including the county and town and parish councils, police, fire, health, and voluntary organisations – are directed to meet the needs of local communities.
AAPs have been set up to give people in County Durham a greater choice and voice in local affairs. The partnerships allow people to have a say on services, and give organisations the chance to speak directly with local communities.
They are working with existing community organisations to focus their action and spending on issues important to local communities.
Launch meetings
We held launch meetings for all the AAPs at 14 locations across the county in May 2009. They attracted up to 150 people per event and decided on the name of each partnership and its priorities.
At the events, we presented a range of specific information for local people to view and discuss. You can see this on each of the individual AAP webpages above. We also produced information boards for a whole range of issues about AAPs. You can view the boards here: Area Action Partnership launch event boards.pdf (6 pages, 1510kb)