On the 7th March 2019 Stirling Council announced the launch of its first large-scale participatory budgeting(PB) process, and its another example of the growing size of PB in Scotland.
The fund will be split between 7 districts, with a total of £100,000 available in each. Alan Budge of PB Partners advised the council on its plans.
Already successfully launched in major cities such as New York and Madrid, as well as other local authorities in Scotland, Participatory Budgeting has increased community engagement and brought real change to communities across the world.
Your Stirling: You Decide is Stirling’s version of the initiative and is backed by an injection of £700,000 from the Council in its first year.
Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Scott Farmer, said: “We have always engaged with our communities when setting our budgets but this takes things to the next level.
“Residents will now have the chance to dictate spending – from the idea stage straight to the delivery of services – changing the way we conduct local democracy.
In the first year, the focus will be on infrastructure and environment projects and there are three simple steps to the process:
- The public generate ideas
- People vote for their preferences
- The projects with the most votes are funded.
Engagement with the community has already begun to help explain the process, and full details are available online at the Stirling Council website via my.stirling.gov.uk/youdecide
- Read the full announcement on the website of Stirling Council