On the 9th April 2016 Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council, covering three villages near Keighley, North Yorkshire, will be launching a new Participatory Budgeting initiative. Around £20,000 of parish council funds will be available, split proportionally across the three villages. Ideas for how to spend the parish council’s money will be gathered following… Read More
England
What's happening in Participatory Budgeting across England
State of the North report highlights how impotent citizens feel
IPPR North is the only major thinktank with a Northern base, which gives it a lot of credibility when talking about issues like a new northern renaissance. Policies like DevoManc, elected mayors, business rates reform and other measures aim to devolve power and liberate local government from over-management by Whitehall. However IPPR North believes there… Read More
Durham CC video on using PB for mainstream budget consultation
In 2013 Durham County Council were facing some tough financial decisions. So they developed a simple interactive board game to involve citizens in these difficult debates. Using a successful round of participatory budgeting distribution days, that helped Durham win recognition as a model of best practice in community engagement, they asked some of the 11,000… Read More
Police Commissioner asks residents of Crewe to allocate £20,000 budget
Cheshire police and crime commissioner John Dwyer announced on the 8th August that he intends to ask residents how to spend £20,000 of his crime prevention budget in a community project in central Crewe … and 3 more areas are set to benefit later in the year. The money could be spent on a healthy… Read More
Over-50s vote on Connect Hackney Aging Better fund
A new PB programme in London is seeking to give older people greater influence over the services they receive. Through the Connect Hackney Ageing better programme, funded by a £5.8m grant from the Big Lottery organisations looking to reduce social isolation among older people will put forward ideas that will be chosen by older residents… Read More
Miles Platting groups get a share of £25,000
£25k worth of funding from Adactus Housing Association will be split between nine community groups operating in Miles Platting, East Manchester. The groups offer a wide cross section of activities, events and equipment that local East Manchester residents will benefit from. 16 groups originally applied for and after a voting process where Adactus Housing Association… Read More
Kingston residents can get involved through Your Money You Decide
The Royal Borough of Kingston has been running their version of participatory budgeting, known as Your Money You Decide for many years. A small grants programme in the south of the borough uses a market stall format to spend £30,000 of public money. Any community or voluntary group, club, residents association or Council department can… Read More
Academy of Urbanism on participatory budgeting as aid to urban development
The Academy of Urbanism is well used to reporting on the innovations that bring about an urban renaissance. In an article by Katy Hawkins the Academy now looks at participatory budgeting (PB) in the USA, the UK and more widely. Following exciting developments in PB in Paris, where PB is being used to spend €426m… Read More
Cheylesmore residents spend nearly £50,000 on community projects
A £48,600 fund for community projects in Cheylesmore, a suburb of Coventry, has been allocated to groups and initiatives after residents came up with ideas about worthwhile projects for the area – and had the final say on the projects they wanted to see funded. Now a number of local groups are set to benefit… Read More
PB Network National Conference: 26th October, Birmingham
On the 26th October 2015 the PB Network held our national Participatory Budgeting(PB) conference. Over 70 people gathered for a stimulating day of workshops, debates and presentations. The conference was held at Studio Innovate rooms in the heart of Birmigham city centre, as well as a range of breakout spaces. Providing us with a modern… Read More
