About Chester-le-Street and District Area Action Partnership

What we do

We're a partnership that consists of members of the public, representatives from Durham County Council, town and parish councils, police, fire, health, housing, business, university and voluntary organisations. Together we:

• work with communities and organisations to meet the needs of the community, through identifying local priorities and actions required to tackle them
• allocate funding to local organisations and support their development
• monitor the difference that funding and support is making to communities
• ensure that you can get involved with consultation activities, and are aware of what's going on in your community 

Where we cover

The AAP is situated in the north of the county and incorporates the Parish Councils of:

• Beamish, Bournmoor, Chester-le-Street, Chester Moor, Edmondsley, Fence Houses, Great Lumley, Grange Villa, High Handenhold, Kimblesworth, Nettlesworth, Newfield, North Lodge/Picktree, Ouston, Pelton, Pelton Fell, Pelton Lane Ends, Perkinsville, Plawsworth, Sacriston, South Pelaw, Urpeth, Waldridge, West Pelton

Population figures are in the region of 53,200, covering an area of over 6,700 hectares (26 sq. miles). The AAP area includes approximately 24,000 households.

You can see this information on our Chester-le-Street AAP map (PDF, 1 MB).

How we work

The AAP consists of a board and forum that work together to tackle issues in local communities.

AAP forum

Our AAP forum is a group of people and organisations - on average about 650 and can meet up to twice a year to decide on our AAP's direction, including where funding should be spent in future (AAP priorities). Anyone over the age of 11 can join the forum.

If you join our AAP, you become a forum member. As a forum member, you're invited to take part in our forum meetings, where you'll have the opportunity to let us know where you think funding should be spent in your community. You will also receive information on other AAP activities which you might be interested in getting involved with.

AAP board

The AAP board is the decision making body of the AAP. It consists of 21 members, made up of:

• seven elected councillors (of which at least one position is for town and parish councils)
• seven members of the public
• seven representatives from partner organisations

Anyone over the age of 16 can apply to join the board.

Anyone can attend a board meeting which meet at least six times a year to:

• approve AAP funded projects
• manage the AAP spend
• discuss the work of the task and finish groups
• listen to and respond to local consultations
• receive updates from partners

We put plans and actions in place to help community groups and local organisations develop projects that meet our AAP priorities. We have a combined budget of nearly £369,000 to support local projects.

This is in addition to a neighbourhood budget which each county councillor has to use for local initiatives which is supported by the AAPs.

For further information on AAP funding for community groups and local organisations see Apply for funding for your community or group.

Board members

The AAP board is the decision making body of the AAP. See our Chester-le-Street and District AAP Board meetings page for a list of our board members.

Task and finish groups

We take actions on issues linked to our priorities. To do this, we have priority task and finish groups. See Our priorities for a list of our priorities, and further information about out task and finish groups.

AAP statistics

View Chester-le-Street & District AAP - profile to see the statistical information available for Chester-le-Street and District AAP area.