‘Your Place, Your Priorities’ is an initiative designed to give residents the opportunity to pitch ideas to improve their area with £130,000 of joint-funding from the council and Scottish Government up for grabs to help community groups see their plans come to fruition.
Last month almost 400 residents from across both rural and urban communities came together at two events to vote on the first funding awards for local projects as the council builds towards its target of having at least one per cent of its annual budget spending committed to the principles of participatory budgeting.
Those in attendance were given a total of five votes each to encourage an even spread of the £65,000 pots of funding available at each event, with projects ranging from Women’s Aid groups to local youth groups all receiving backing.
Councillor Chris Kane, convenor of the Community Planning and Regeneration Committee, said: “Participatory budgeting offers a remarkable opportunity for residents and groups to get involved at the heart of decision making in their communities.
“I attended the Stirling event and there were 50 groups pitching for support to over 200 citizens. In the end, eleven projects received a share of £65,000.
“I’ve been involved in community politics for a number of years and without a doubt this was the best attended and best supported event I have ever seen.
“There is much to learn ahead of doing it again next year, but this was a remarkable and commendable attempt at doing things differently and collaboratively. Overall I can’t stress how positive I found this first tentative step in participatory budgeting.”
Vice convenor of the committee, Councillor Maureen Bennison added: “The turnout from the rural community of Stirling was extremely pleasing and it was great to see so many people of all ages motivated about changing their community for the better.
“This project is about giving local people the control over how money is spent in their area and that’s exactly what happened. It’s an excellent way to give residents a voice in community planning and I hope to see even more people involved next year when we run it again."