Yorkshire Local Councils Associations - Participatory Budgeting

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Participatory Budgeting

Participatory budgeting is a process which allows members of a community to participate in making spending decisions about local things that affect them. Local Councils (parish, town, village, community or neighbourhood councils) are local authorities in their own right. They generally have a much closer relationship with the community than do the larger principal authorities. During 2010 and 2011, a project was developed in North Yorkshire to test the idea of local councils using participatory budgeting in their work. This was overseen by a small group of principal authorities, the North Yorkshire Police Authority and Yorkshire Local Councils associations. The group commissioned Rural Action Yorkshire to undertake the work and the results were really encouraging. As a result, although it was accepted it was not for all of them, local councils proved to be an ideal basis for participatory budgeting.

Public engagement is very important to a healthy political system. The more engaged a community is in how it is governed, the more it is likely to get out of those who govern it. A Participatory Budgeting Unit was established by Church Action on Poverty in 2001, partly funded by Central Government, to promote and advise on all aspects of participatory budgeting. At the present time, the Coalition Government’s promotion of the “Big Society” idea is leading them to take an interest in many aspects of local activism, local self help and community engagement and so the strong governmental interest in participatory budgeting continues.

Participatory budgeting is already happening

Over a hundred local authorities are using participatory budgeting in their areas now. There are also local councils using participatory budgeting already, though on a smaller scale. It is becoming an established way of engaging communities and has a growing track record.

Why should a local council be interested?

Local councillors frequently complain about how difficult it is to get their community involved in the council’s business. Major planning proposals, wind farms, waste incinerators and such like are usually pretty effective in filling local council meetings with members of the public anxious to know how they might be affected, but otherwise, it is often said, no-one is interested.

Participatory budgeting is a great way to get people involved. It can:

· Encourage people to bring forward ideas for their community

· Foster a greater understanding of local community issues

· Get people involved in their community and in voluntary activity

· Make sure that what gets done is what the community most wants

· Helps the community understand how parish business affects them

· Help people see how their council tax is being used

· Encourage new people to stand for election as local councillors

The project proved to be a great success and the councils concerned had a great deal of involvement from local people. As part of the action a practical toolkit was developed which charts the progress and issues raised during the trial projects and shares the ideas and practical arrangements that were built up. It is a valuable aid for anyone interested and is available to download on this website. There is also DVD on the Rural Action Yorkshire website which gives an insight into how the parish councils involved developed the process and some of the lessons learnt. You can watch the video here: http://www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk/project/participatory-budgeting