The 2015-2016 programme for Government, announced by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister at the Scottish Parliament on the 1st September 2015 provides further endorsement for participatory budgeting. As part of a wide range of initiatives, this commitment to PB is linked closely to the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 will see PB grow north of the… Read More
Become a recognised supporter of the PB Network
From October 2015, as a part of our national gathering on Birmingham, we are planning to strengthen our independance and governance by adopting a constitution for an unincorporated association, and thereafter form an executive committee and advisory board. That can guide our development and promote the cause of citizen voice and empowerment. Potentially eventually becoming… 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
Hebrides Islands rural bus service tendering uses PB to involve residents
On the 20th July 2015 the Island News and Advertiser reported how the community will be involved in deciding how to invest public money in rural bus services in very remote islands of the Outer Hebrides (also known as the Western Isles or Na h-Eileanan Siar in Gaelic). The project, one of the first in… Read More
Argentina’s national Programme for Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgeting (PB) is generally concerned with the devolution of powers to the local, neighbourhood or citizen level. There are obviously some real challenges at operating a direct participatory democracy at a national level. Though there are some calls, not least from the PB Network for the principle of 1% of all national government expenditure… Read More
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