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 put forward a scheme or idea that they would like to seek funding for. In order to be eligible for the funding, the bid must meet the following criteria:
- must be a group (not an individual) with a bank account
- project must be legal and have all the necessary permissions and approvals
- it must be for the benefit of the residents in the relevant ward
- provide a display on the day of the vote which promotes the idea in order to encourage residents to vote
- bid for as much (up to £2,000) or as little as needed to persuade residents that thebid is worth their vote
Residents can vote if
- 16 years or over
- they attend the voting event
- live in a Ward for which the project applies
Events in 2015 are being run in:
Chessington South, Saturday 19 September, 10am to 12.30pm
Chessington Community College, Garrison Lane
Tolworth and Hook Rise, Tuesday 22 September, 6pm to 8.30pm.
Tolwroth Girls School, Fullers Way North
Chessington North, Saturday 26 September, 10am to 12.30pm
The Hook Centre, Hook Road
- Find out more about the PB process in Kingston