Plans to create twelve Local Networks across County Durham will be discussed as Durham County Council is proposing to replace its current fourteen Area Action Partnerships (AAPs) with the twelve Local Networks from April 2025.
The aim of the new model is to enhance the capacity of local communities and individuals to become involved in improving their area.
Local Networks will adopt a more strategic and outcomes-focussed approach, developing four-year local action plans to guide investment and identify more opportunities for partnership working.
Alongside this, the existing AAP Forum, made up of 15,000 people, will form a new county wide County Durham Community Network with increased opportunities to engage and help shape local network plans.
The decision to replace the fourteen AAPs with twelve Local Networks reflects the updated electoral divisions and ensures that county councillors will only cover one Local Network area, creating more consistent population sizes and ensuring a more equitable allocation of budgets.
It is expected that the new Local Networks will take over from the AAPs on 1st April 2025.
This will allow time to prepare for the council elections in May 2025 and ensure the four-year Local Network plans are aligned to the electoral cycle. The council’s Cabinet is recommended to agree the new Local Network boundaries and agree the proposed time scales for implementing the Local Networks when it meets. To find out more about the work of the AAPs, visit: www.durham.gov.uk/AAPs