The Participatory Budget scheme is accepting applications from local residents during the first two weeks of September
The Partick and Thornwood Ideas Fund, which allows residents to pitch ideas for projects that will benefit the local community, has returned for 2021. Applications opened on 1 September and will close on 14 September, with community voting on 21 October for a week.
The Ideas Fund “gives local people and organisations an opportunity to apply for grants to realise their ideas, [to deliver] positive change for local people in the community”. Everyone living in either Partick or Thornwood is able to vote on the projects that they want to see funded. Individual applicants can be awarded up to £500, and groups up to £1000, for a project or cause, the only criteria being that it must benefit the local community.
The style of decision-making employed by the Ideas Fund is “Participatory Budgeting”, a “democratic way” for citizens to deliberate about the best use of public funds. An initiative conceived in Brazil, PB has been adopted by the Scottish Government as a way in which to engage communities in local democracy and form part of the decision-making process. The Scottish Government is committing to an allocation of 1% of budgets to be decided on by local communities through PB by the end of 2021.
Successful applicants from 2020 include the Partick Community Growing Project, Hanover House Sheltered Housing and the charity, Birth Baby and Beyond.
Application forms can be downloaded online at https://www.annexecommunities.org.uk/ and updates on the project can also be found on Facebook by following @annexepartick or @PTideasfund on Twitter.
