Why get involved with PB?
It's often been said money is power. Every year thousands of pounds worth of public money is spent in your name and on your behalf. If you are not involved when your money is spent, then how do you know it will be spent the way you want it to be?
Why getting involved matters to you
It’s often been said money is power. Every year thousands of pounds worth of public money is spent in your name and on your behalf. If you are not involved when your money is spent, then how do you know it will be spent the way you want it to be?
Whether it’s through council tax, income tax, parking charges, the licensing of local businesses such as pubs or restaurants, or many other ways, public money is raised to be spent on services for your benefit.
Every year local councils invest money in traffic improvements, in policing crime, in schools, housing, public parks, libraries, waste collection, health centres, and a host of other things that can make our lives better. But this money can be wasted if not spent wisely.
Participatory budgeting is your chance to have your say. To take your slice of the pie. It’s in your hands. You decide.
How communities can get involved.
Participatory Budgeting is about putting you in control of the public services you depend upon. Services that create opportunities for education, work, and leisure, and which can build a safer, fairer future we can value and be proud about.
Local councils all across the country are experimenting with new ways to talk to local people when they decide their budgets. Participatory budgeting is on of those ways.
Central Government say all local councils should offer their residents the chance to take part on directly deciding how money is spent.
They are doing this now more than ever, and for many different reasons:
- Because its your money, collected from your taxes, and from the money you also pay to use local facilities and services
- Because spending money better improves the way we live and the chances we will have to make a better life for ourselves
- Because local people have valuable local knowledge about when services are working well and what needs to change
- Because our government believes before we can improve public spending, so we invest in the services we most value, more people need to be involved than ever before
- Because local councils have a legal duty to involve residents before making decisions that can affect them.
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