Spennymoor Area Action Partnership Area Annual Review 2013/14 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 Foreword from Alan Smith, Outgoing Spennymoor AAP Chair I would like to thank everyone associated with the Spennymoor Area Action Partnership for contributing to another excellent year in moving forward and trying to make a real difference in the AAP area. Having been given a clear steer on the need to continue with the key priorities of Children & Young People and Employment and Job Prospects, there has been a real drive and energy to succeed. The major occasion of our year, held in November, was the ‘Your Money, Your Area, Your Views’ event. The event provided the opportunity for members of our communities to vote on projects they wanted to receive funding, to vote on the AAP priorities for the 2014/15 financial year and to have their say on the future budget for Durham County Council (DCC). Overall the event was a great success with over 900 people attending on the day. The event also showed how committed the people of our area are to supporting and improving the community they live and work in. Taking community cohesion one step further, it was great to see that the community engagement processes that have been put in place by DCC (AAPs being pivotal in this) were a key element of the LGC Council of The Year award given to DCC recently. A major role in DCC achieving this accolade was a full day of assessment by an independent panel and for me it was a real boost that our partnership was selected to be part of this judging day. Overall the Board continues to work well and new members to the Board have brought fresh thoughts and insight into some of the issues we continue to face. The meetings at all of the venues we have visited during 2013/14 have again demonstrated the community pride and commitment shown across the area. I would therefore like to thank those involved for the hospitality they have shown to the Board over the past year. I have been a member of the Board since 2009 and I will remain on the Board throughout 2014/15. I aim to continue to contribute and get behind the push to help deliver our priorities. Being Chair is an honour but is made much easier by the support of the sider Board and the unstinting work of the Spennymoor AAP Team and, in welcoming Cllr Ian Geldard into the role, I can assure him of an excellent network of help and assistance. After five years I feel that the Spennymoor Area Action Partnership is now well established and widely recognised, which gives me every optimism that it can continue to help raise and tackle the issues facing the area and deliver real results. I look forward in continuing to be part of our success. Alan Smith Spennymoor AAP Chair 2013/14 1 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 SPENNYMOOR AAP ANNUAL REVIEW 2013/14 CONTENTS 1. What are the Area Action Partnership’s? Pages 3-7 2. Summary of Area Budget Pages 8-15 3. Your Money, Your Area, Your Views Event Summary Pages 16-21 4. Summary of Neighbourhood Budget Pages 22-23 5. Summary of Members Initiative Fund Pages 24-26 6. Summary of Highways Budget Pages 27-28 7. Key Achievements Pages 29-30 8. Key Dates Pages 31-33 9. Comments from Board Members Pages 34-35 10. List of Organisations, Groups and Services Worked With During 2013/14 Pages 36-37 2 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 What are AAP’S? Background The publication of the White Paper ‘Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities’ in 2006 aimed to give local people more influence and devolved powers, in order to improve lives and bridge the gaps between affluent and disadvantaged communities. Councils in two tier local government areas (as was County Durham) were invited to submit bids for a new approach to Local Government. In October 2006, the Government announced plans to change the way local authorities worked. At the end of October 2007, the Local Government Public Involvement in Health Bill gained Royal Assent. This Act introduced a new settlement between central and local government, and between local government, its partners and its citizens. The County Council’s original proposal for unitary status outlined a model for community engagement and local partnership working through the development of between 12 to 14 Area Action Partnerships (AAP) covering the whole of County Durham. In January 2008 a joint County and District Officer Team was convened as part of the County Durham Unitary Programme, to carry out research and development work around the Area Action Partnership (AAP) model. On April 1st 2009 in County Durham, seven district councils and one county council merged. A new Unitary Council was born ‘Durham County Council’. 14 AAP were then established across County Durham giving the opportunity for the new Unitary Council to carry out community empowerment and engagement. It is hoped that the AAP will engage with communities who have and those who have not previously engaged in influencing local service delivery. The County Council has been able to resource each AAP with a locality budget (known as Area Budget) of £120,000. This will be in addition to the £20,000 (known as Neighbourhood Budget) and £2,000 (known as Members Initiative Fund), per County Councillor, that will be used for local initiatives. It will be the role of the 14 AAP to demonstrate that this money will offer added value to local communities. 3 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 What do AAP do? The AAP contribute to the County Council’s and the County Durham Partnership’s vision. The AAP work around the four themes of: Engagement - ‘Community engagement’ is the process whereby public bodies reach out to communities to create empowerment opportunities (www.communities.gov.uk). This is done by working with communities to build a dialogue and encourage local people to be involved in planning local services. Empowerment – ‘Community empowerment’ is the giving of confidence, skills, and power to communities to shape and influence what public bodies do for, or with them (www.communities.gov.uk). It gives people the power to work in partnership with organisations and help them combine their efforts to improve local services. Local action - Developing Task & Finish Groups to form an action plan for the AAP and resolving local issues by using the resources of the County Council and partner organisations i.e. Police, Fire & Rescue, Health, Housing, Community & Voluntary Organisations and the local business network to work in partnership and bend mainstream funding. Performance - Monitoring and improving public service performance (Audit Commission National Indicators) and supporting the AAP and County Durham Partnership to achieve their aims. 4 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 Spennymoor AAP 5 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 Background Situated in the centre of the county, The Spennymoor Area Action Partnership (AAP), stands above the Wear Valley and is approximately seven miles south of Durham City. The AAP stretches from Kirk Merrington in the south, to Sunderland Bridge in the north and is centred on Spennymoor. The AAP is bordered by the other AAPs of: Bishop Auckland and Shildon 3 Towns Partnership Durham City East Durham Rural 4 Together Partnership Mid Durham The Spennymoor AAP is predominately ‘urban’ in nature with a population of over 20, 3001. Covering an area of over 4,000 hectares (15.8 sq. miles), the AAP has a population density of 5.0 (people/hectare), which is over twice that of the county (2.3). The town of Spennymoor itself was founded over 160 years ago. The Spennymoor area includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green, Tudhoe, Tudhoe Village, Croxdale, Sunderland Bridge and Hett. This AAP area contains Spennymoor Town Council and the Parish Council of Croxdale and Hett. 6 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 Structure Spennymoor AAP structure involves an: Area Forum - For the community to meet twice a year to consider issues such as agreeing priorities for the area and reviewing progress of the partnership Board. Area Board – Twenty one members made up of seven Public, seven Partner and seven County/Town & Parish Councilor representatives, who will meet at least six times a year to discuss how the AAP is progressing against its action plan, manage spend and work with local partners around service issues. Task & Finish Groups – These groups are championed by at least one Board Member. The group work on agreed local priorities that are guided by the Forum and endorsed by the Board In assessing the priority areas for the 2013/14 financial year the AAP consulted at both the annual Forum Event (held every November) and, for the first time, at the Youth Forum Event (this event was organised as part of the AAP supported Youth Council project). As a result of the votes at the Forum Events, the Board agreed at the Board Meeting in January 2013 to adopt the main priorities of Children & Young People and Employment & Job Prospects as the main focus of the partnership for the 2013/14 financial year. With Crime & Community Safety and Communication, IT & Technology to be incorporated as overarching priorities that should be assessed through the existing Task & Finish Groups. 7 Spennymoor AAP – Annual Review 2013/14 Area Budget (AB) The AB is an annual allocation of £120,000 which is made by Durham County Council for use locally. AB is to be utilised for supporting community led initiatives that meet local needs, while impacting on county priorities, in the process, encouraging community participation in the decision-making process.