We have Area Action Partnerships (AAPs) for all areas of the county to help us deliver high quality services and give local people and organisations a say on how our services are provided.
Latest news
Get connected... to the heart of your community
We're running a recruitment campaign to encourage more people to get involved in our AAPs.
It's Up 2 U - community funding
A number of AAPs are working on an initiative to help people decide on projects in their local area. Community groups apply for project-funding and residents decide on the projects to get the go-ahead. Almost 2,000 people got involved in the voting events in the three AAPs in 2011, and you can find out more at It’s Up 2 U.
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:
Get involved
If you aren't already a member, you can get involved in your local community and join your local AAP. If you live or work anywhere in Durham, you can join your AAP. If you are already a member of your AAP, please encourage others to get involved. You can then come along to public forum events to have your say on issues in your area.
Our Overview and Scrutiny committee has written a Scrutiny Management Board report into how the AAPs function.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Further information
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)