Participatory Budgeting: Cast your votes. It's your money, you decide!
Posted on 24 Oct 2023
Calling all North Ayrshire residents.
The voting stage of North Ayrshire Council’s Participatory Budgeting scheme is now under way, so don’t miss the chance to have a say on where the cash is spent in your area.
The public have a chance to vote across three categories: Localities, Youth and a new category for this year – the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, where community groups can team up together on an event, cause or project for the common good.
Young people aged from eight to 25 will make the decision on projects being funded for Youth PB, with voting on the Young Scot website and in schools from November 6 to 19. You can find out how to cast your vote here: https://tinyurl.com/yrm3886a
Voting for Locality PB and UK Shared Prosperity Fund PB is now open to all North Ayrshire residents.
People living in the North Coast and Cumbrae, Arran, Irvine, Kilwinning, Three Towns and the Garnock Valley can vote in these two categories until 5pm on Friday, November 11.
There is also the opportunity to vote in Libraries across North Ayrshire if you are unable to vote online.
North Ayrshire Council, along with the Health and Social Care Partnership and the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund, have provided a total of £198,377 funding as part of their ongoing community empowerment ambition to give local people a direct say in how money is spent.
The funding will be shared between projects across North Ayrshire and these will broadly cover the themes of:
- improving local life and wellbeing (with a focus on the Cost-of-Living crisis)
- linking up and connecting people in local communities
- promoting positive mental health and wellbeing
- tackling climate challenge and
- promoting healthy and active communities
Up to £1,000 will be allocated per project (Locality, Youth) and then up to £5,000 for UKSPF combined applications projects.
It’s now up to the people of North Ayrshire to decide which of the shortlisted projects most deserve to receive funding.
Councillor Alan Hill, Cabinet Member for Islands and Communities said: “In the last PB funding round, those who took the time to vote helped make the dreams come true for almost 128 community projects who had their share of a £109,777 Participatory Budgeting windfall.
“And this round, we are ready to hopefully receive more votes than ever before as we have a staggering 105 Youth PB and 133 – in Locality or UKSPF - applications from projects looking for their chance to secure their share.
“Our residents know better than anyone else which projects will be the most beneficial to them in their local communities, so it is only fair that they have the final say on how this money is spent.
“Participatory Budgeting really is an inspirational example of community empowerment in action, and it has already made such a massive difference to many local projects over the last few years.
“It has been fantastic to see so many local groups benefitting already, and we look forward to this year’s results and the positive outcomes that this funding will bring to an array of amazing projects across the area.”