Minutes:
The Council received a presentation from the AAP Coordinator and the Chair of the East Durham AAP (for presentation see file of Minutes).
The Council were informed that in recent years much of the AAPs budget had been allocated to alleviating hardship by the following:
· Financial Wellbeing Champions
· Holiday Activities with Food
· Credit Union
Support had also been given to numerous activities and organisations.
Financial Wellbeing Champions provided support to communities to access sources of funding or benefits which they may not be aware of. The financial benefit to local people in the last 30 months was estimated at £956,111 which was money that would be spent in the local community. 30 debt relief orders had been obtained with a total of £353,945 written off, with this expected to reach £1/2 m by the end of the year. Additional projects where external funding had been secured with support of an evidence-base provided by AAP ‘Champions’ activity had attracted funding of £468,956.
Holiday Activities with Food provided children with meals during periods of school summer holidays to combat holiday hunger. In 2017 2,846 children had taken part in the project with 5,164 meals being delivered by 15 organisations. By 2018 10, 450 meals were delivered to 2,957 children by 14 organisations.
The East Durham AAP was in a partnership arrangement with the NEFirst Credit Union. Since the partnership was formed in 2011 accounts in the area now numbered 2,258 with cumulative savings of £1.6m and cumulative loans surpassing £1m, with £284,000 outstanding.
The AAP had five areas which were accredited as dementia friendly, these being at Seaham, Murton, Blackhall, Peterlee and Easington.
Finally, the AAP was undertaking work to make the east Durham coast a tourist attraction. It had been involved in retaining the statue of Tommy, a First World War soldier at Seaham and had been involved in a project to create a field of remembrance on the railings near to the Tommy statue.
The AAP Coordinator and the Chair of the AAP thanked the Council for the opportunity to make their presentation and thanked the seven elected Members within the East Durham AAP area for their support.