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PB in England

The PB Unit, a British NGO supported by the Office of the Prime Minister and Oxfam, has recently sent out one of their E-Newsletters that describes, among other things, a couple of PB-like efforts underway in the UK. By going on their site, above, it is possible to sign up for regular E-Newsletters, and to link to a number of resources about PB and about their work.

We copy below the excerpt about one of their projects.

Keighley residents to decide on spending priorities for their neighbourhoods using Neighbourhood Renewal budget

Residents in Keighley are to decide on the spending priorities for improving their areas using money from the Neighbourhood Renewal budget. Bradford Vision, supported by the PB Unit, is developing its own model of PB in which local people will choose priorities from the Local Strategic Partnership’s 7 themes and propose projects to improve their area. Their priorities will shape the budget of the Stage 3 Neighbourhood Renewal / Neighbourhood Action Planning allocation and an assembly of local people will decide which projects to implement. Service providers and local initiatives will be commissioned to carry out the projects, monitored by a group of local delegates from the assembly.

Keighley Participatory Budgeting is the latest development in Bradford Vision’s work to involve local people in spending decisions, where local people have already come together to decide how to spend £700k on environmental improvements. A video of a past Bradford Vision PB event can be seen at www.bradfordvision.net/forum.php