Agenda item

The Council received a presentation from the AAP Coordinator and the Chair of Weardale Area Action Partnership (for presentation see file of Minutes).

Councillor A Savoury explained that Weardale Area Action Partnership had one of the smallest populations in the County, but were one of the largest, geographically. The AAP started at Witton le Wear, with the fantastic nature reserve of Low Barns and climbed up to Killhope, a Museum which covered aspects of rural life and lead mining. Each of the numerous hamlets within Weardale held their own unique characteristics.

The presentation focussed on key areas and gave an insight into some of the projects the AAP had delivered, such as:

·        More and better – projects were carried out around rural skills training whereby the AAP had asked farmers what courses or training they would like developing for them. The AAP utilised the skills sets of Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services, listened to the feedback and worked together to develop a bespoke training package;

·        developing unique apprentices from outdoor activity workers to sports activators;

·        helping people live long, better and independent lives – whereby the AAP engaged with the community through the employment of a wellness coordinator who visited people in their own homes, to address issues that allowed them to have happier healthy lives staying in their own homes. In 2018, the wellness coordinator had identified three cases of AF – arterial fibrillation* (abnormality of the heart which is associated with strokes, heart attacks and dementia.);

·        secured over £105k of unclaimed benefits through the use of a rural advice worker;

·        worked with the Women’s Institute supporting an open house drop-in, which over 20 local residents attended and helped towards reducing social isolation;

·        supported and helped to develop a writing group “The North Pens” which had now been successfully managed to link the group into the Durham Book Festival;

·        worked with young people harnessing the potential of the community to bring a skatepark to the area. The project involved school children who helped with public meetings, a social media campaign and consultation meetings. Funding was sourced from LEADER, Sport England and Wolsingham Parish Council;

·        Connecting communities through the ‘We Are Weardale Project’ working with older residents, sharing memories and stories, holding workshops from creative writers to support children to understand their heritage and culture;

·        Created a Weardale Tub, utilising a similar methodology of inter-generational work, workshops working with a ceramic glass panels, that were then fused together and placed as panels to form a lead mining tub.  The project had been nominated as a regional example of community arts work.

These projects provided a small sample of the work undertaken by the AAP. The AAP always took the opportunity to talk to the community, at agricultural shows, meetings or gatherings. They had held over 500 positive conversations, listened to the community, built on and developed programmes for future years.

It was important to highlight that a vast community network had been developed in the Weardale area. Everyone in Weardale could benefit from AAP funding. The AAP worked proactively in this regard and met individuals, groups and worked through funding applications. The AAP also explored areas where joint working could take place and how additional funding could be sought to enable sustainable projects to be delivered. Many other agencies tapped into the AAP network to help make the area a better place.

The Chair and AAP Coordinator finished their presentation by thanking everyone for having the faith, kindness and compassion to let AAPs do their job, not only in Weardale but across County Durham.

The Chair thanked the AAP Chair and Coordinator for their presentation.