Data

General Issues
Economics
Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice & Corrections
Specific Topics
Budget - Local
Public Safety
Location
Blaenau Gwent
United Kingdom
Scope of Influence
City/Town
Links
https://pbnetwork.org.uk/pb-in-blaenau-gwent-with-home-office-funds/
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFP8oDMMRBo
Start Date
End Date
Ongoing
No
Facilitators
No

CASE

‘Your Voice, Your Choice’: Participatory Budgeting in Blaenau Gwent, Wales, UK

April 4, 2019 Jaskiran Gakhal, Participedia Team
December 21, 2018 Jaskiran Gakhal, Participedia Team
September 8, 2017 Kateryna Onyiliogwu
October 7, 2013 Kateryna Onyiliogwu
General Issues
Economics
Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice & Corrections
Specific Topics
Budget - Local
Public Safety
Location
Blaenau Gwent
United Kingdom
Scope of Influence
City/Town
Links
https://pbnetwork.org.uk/pb-in-blaenau-gwent-with-home-office-funds/
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFP8oDMMRBo
Start Date
End Date
Ongoing
No
Facilitators
No

In the Welsh county of Blaenau Gwent, a participatory budgeting project known as "Your Voice, Your Choice" was used in 2010 to allow local residents to engage in democratic decision-making regarding how funds would be allocated for community safety.

Note: the following entry is a stub. Please help us complete it.

Problems and Purpose

150 community members in Blaenau Gwent, a county in South Wales, UK, came to a participatory budgeting event called "Your Voice, Your Choice" in March of 2010 [1]. They did so in order to have a say in which projects would be chosen to make Blaenau Gwent safer. All in all, "£30,000 was available for local people to decide which community safety projects would be funded in their neighbourhoods" [1]. This case was a pilot project, which the Home Office offered its support for [1]. "Your Voice, Your Choice" allowed the members of the Blaenau Gwent community to propose projects to improve community safety. Costing no more than £3,000, the projects were expected to fill two criteria: "projects must be delivered in Blaenau Gwent and they must address ‘community safety’ issues" [1].

Background History and Context

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

Participant Recruitment and Selection 

150 local residents were present at the event [1].

Methods and Tools Used 

This initiative uses participatory budgeting, an increasingly common method of democratic innovation broadly described as "a decision-making process through which citizens deliberate and negotiate over the distribution of public resources." There are many benefits associated with participatory budgeting including increased civic and democratic education; increased government transparency; and an increased opportunity for participation by historically marginalized populations [1]

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects 

Analysis and Lessons Learned 

See Also

Participatory Budgeting  

Corby's Participatory Budgeting on Community Safety (Northamptonshire, UK) 

YOUdecide Participatory Budgeting in Gosport, England 

"Voice Your Choice": Participatory Budgeting in Huntingdon, UK 

Participatory Budgeting in Cumbria, UK

References 

[1] PB Network (2013). "PB in Blaenau Gwent with Home Office funds." PB Network. Retrieved from https://pbnetwork.org.uk/pb-in-blaenau-gwent-with-home-office-funds/

External Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFP8oDMMRBo 

Review of Participatory Budgeting in Wales 

Grant-Making through Participatory Budgeting (UK)

Notes

Lead Image: Wales Participatory Budgeting https://goo.gl/WBya41