Otley residents were invited to submit project ideas for the town and help spend £10,000 during June 2013, with voting on the results in September 2013. This forms part of Otley Town Council’s drive towards local decision making and the introduction of participatory budgeting. Key to Voice Your Choice is that Otley residents participate in… Read More
Geographic
Participatory Budgeting in the UK and internationally
Edinburgh positive about the impact of Participatory Budgeting
In a recent report on a range of Participatory Budgeting initiatives Edinburgh City Council recognises the positive impacts in terms of public approval for opportunities to have a say over budgets. Examining programmes like the award winning Leith Decides encouraged the council to continue to develop the approach, and it is trying PB in a… Read More
Windsor and Maidenhead’s online Participatory Budgeting
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead runs an annual online public vote on projects that benefit the community. Voting in the latest round will close at 5pm on Monday 10 February 2014. Up to £50,000 has been allocated to help fund these local projects. Local groups can bid for up to £2,000 to support… Read More
Citizens decide online on the proceeds of crime in North Wales
Anglesey and Gwynedd residents can have their say, for the first time ever, on how money seized from criminals is spent. The Participatory Budgeting Scheme, established by Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick, is partly funded by money seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act. £42k has been made available for projects which will help… Read More
Lord Stevens’ report into the future of policing recommends PB
The Independent Commission into the future of policing published its report ‘Policing for a Better Britain’ on the 25th November 2013. The Commission’s remit was as wide reaching as that of the Royal Commission on the Police undertaken fifty years ago. Otherwise known as the Stevens report, after the Chair of the Commission, with 37… Read More
Massive turnout for Durham PB events
Durham County Council has been leading on innovations in local authority wide PB, and this year have seen their efforts pay off with record breaking attendance, with 11,000 residents participating at their already popular local events. Not only in developing citizen led decision making on small grants, but linking this to wider budget consultation exercises…. Read More
White House Open Government Report endorses PB for USA
The US has released its 2nd Open Govt. National Action, and the promotion of participatory budgeting is part of it. Here’s an excerpt of the White House blog: "The United States will promote community-led participatory budgeting as a tool for enabling citizens to play a role in identifying, discussing, and prioritizing certain local public spending… Read More
Researching the use of the internet for PB
The PB Network has had a request to submit cases of participatory budgeting that contain a significant element of online activity. I would like to know if any of your contributors could help for my thesis research. I have launched a snowball technique to find cases worldwide of e-Participatory Budgeting (e-PB) a few weeks ago…. Read More
PB in an age of austerity
Interesting little film from a small town in Spain. Do you think its possible to do PB in an atmosphere of cuts? Or as I have heard it described "would you prefer to sacrifice a toe or a finger". Maybe having PB operate only at the small scale makes it easier, but there are huge… Read More
Communities in the driving seat… Oldham Big Local tries PB
Around 250 residents of Oldham attended It’s Up2us on the 30th November 2013. Oldham Big Local is one of a number of newly emerging community led PB programmes. They recently made £15,000 available to local residents in three neighbourhoods to spend on projects to improve their local communities. They named their programme "It’s Up2us!" Following… Read More