Participatory Budgeting in local communities

Pennard Community Council has become the first community council in Wales to undertake what’s known as Participatory Budgeting with a proportion of the annual precept. This is all about local people making decisions directly over how local public budgets are spent. For example, in Pennard the community council use VocalEyes to prioritise how to spend up to £5k of the community precept. Under the scheme, funding has already been allocated for grant match-funding for a feasibility study for the suggested Community Hub. A popular suggestion and discussion point on the VocalEyes platform, evidencing the need locally for a community space. Mirroring similar schemes already adopted in Europe… Between 2014 and 2020, the city of Paris has committed to reserving €500 million (about 5% of the city’s capital fund) to be spent through participatory budgeting. In 2016, 158,964 people voted on how to spend nearly €100 million, including €10 million set aside for schools.