A HIGHLAND Council appeal for Lochaber people to vote for the youth projects they wanted to receive a share of a £10,000 cash pot brought an overwhelming response from local folk. The exercise was part of a pilot project run by Highland Council to test how PB can reach young people in remote locations online.
One local resident even submitted their choices from Panama, whilst on a temporary work placement.
Groups, clubs and projects that support young people between the ages of 11 and 25 were invited to submit bids and the 42 eligible applications were placed online so local people could vote for their favourites. The pilot got families and communities talking and young people came face to face with the reality of prioritising where money should go. And a total of 2,243 valid votes were cast by 1,279 people of all ages from across Lochaber.
Councillor Thomas MacLennan, leader of the council’s area committee, said:
“The people of Lochaber have truly embraced this opportunity to get involved and it has only cost a small amount of council officer time, meaning that all the money available can go straight to the Lochaber community. The response from everyone involved has been so positive that my fellow councillors and I will be discussing how to move forward from here using this method of public participation budgeting.”
- Read the full news report on the Lochaber news website
- Or go to Lochaber Youth Forum for a list of successful projects