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27XMAS SPECIAL THEBIG ISSUEIN THE NORTH

SpendingpowerParticipatory budgeting gives residents

the right to decide how public money isspent in their area. Ciara Leemingattends a workshop in Tameside wherepeople are learning just how to put thisexperiment in democracy into action

A parish councillor, a Hindu priestand representatives of an allotment,a hospital transport group and anangling club were among those wholearned how to campaign for greaterdemocracy in public spending.

A diverse assortment of peoplefrom across Tameside in GreaterManchester attended a free workshopabout participatory budgeting (PB) an approach where public bodies setaside a proportion of funds for localsto decide on.

The session, the second of a series being held by the Peoples Budgetcampaign, looked at the history of PBand its use in the UK, discussed howpublic bodies could be persuaded totake it up, and included a roleplay inwhich participants tried to persuadea sceptical officer of its value.

Tameside is one of a number of areas that has experimented with PB,which is believed to have emerged inPorto Alegre, Brazil, more than20 years ago. This year, 400,000 of money saved through recycling washanded to 149 community projectsunder its You Choose scheme.

Groups pitched their ideas at eightneighbourhood events and those whoattended the sessions voted on whoshould get the money. The maximumgrant size ranged from 3,000 to

4,000, depending on the area figures set by the council.

But Church Action on Poverty, the

A group of participants during the role play, where they had toplan how they would persuade an officer to take up PB andthen present their arguments to the group.Photo: Ciara Leeming

charity that runs the campaign,would like organisations to go muchfurther, and calls for one per cent of all local authority budgets to behanded over to communities. It

believes this would lead not only togreater transparency but alsoencourage better decision-makingand forge stronger local communities.

Other bodies that spend taxpayersmoney and could also take up PBinclude housing associations,primary care trusts and police andfire authorities.

Jez Hall, from the nationalParticipatory Budgeting Unit, told thegroup: If we decide how money is

spent then its PB.If they decide thenits not.Communities must

be involved atevery stage of theprocess.

Within public bodies there is

something we could call a spectrumof participation. At one end there iscommunication, where they tell uswhat they are going to do, andconsultation, where they ask us ourviews and then do what they weregoing to do anyway. At the other endis partnership and decision-making,where taxpayers have a realinfluence. This is where we want toget to.

If we decidehow money isspent then itsPB. If theydecide thenits not.

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have plenty of money which isearmarked for investment in change,and this is what we must tap in to.

Our first priority is for any PB atall to take place in an area and wehave already got that in Tameside.Next, we want the process repeated,

because thats how you get itembedded into the culture of an areaand how it works best since peopleare able to evaluate and learn fromtheir previous choices.

We then want it to happen acrossthe budget holders area so anentire borough if its a council, or allof Greater Manchester if its a bodysuch as the police authority. Andfinally we want one per cent of all

budgets decided on by residentsthemselves. In Porto Alegre localpeople were involved in deciding on18 per cent, so I dont think this istoo much to ask.

Ben Gilchrist, of Tameside ThirdSector Coalition, which hosted the

P A R T I C I P A T O R Y B U D G E T I N G

Around two-thirds of those whoattended the workshop had takenpart in You Choose, and opinions onthe process were mixed. Tameside iscurrently evaluating the programmeand it is not yet known whether itwill run again next year.

One participant, Tony Goldthorpe,managed to secure 3,700 to pay for

railings and asecure gate on thecar park next tothe mill pond used

by CinderlandAngling Club inDroylsden, whichhe chairs. The carpark is next to aninfants school and

parents would often wait on it, but atnight it was a hotspot for drug users,he said. In one month alone wefound seven needles, and we wereworried a child may get injured.

There was a pot of about 40,000to be given away in Droysden, andwe had to give a little talk on the day.I thought the approach has realpotential but I had criticisms of theway the votes worked some groupswere promising to vote for oneanother but then not doing what theysaid.

The Labour government launcheda national participatory budgetingstrategy in 2006, leading a number of areas to experiment with the method,

but campaigners are concerned thattightened localauthority budgetsmay makedecision-makersless willing tocede powers tocitizens.

Alan Thornton,Peoples Budgetcampaign co-

ordinator, said: There is still moneyabout that could be spent in this way.Every local authority has parts of its

budget which are dictated bygovernment social services,education and so on. But they all

SAFE CODE

Participatory budgeting came from the grassroots. In 1980 when Brazil was still livingunder a military dictatorship community organisations in the city of Porto Alegre cametogether to demand popular involvement in local budgeting. It took another decade anda Workers Party election win to get the programme properly up and running. In 1990fewer than 1,000 people were participating but by 2003 26,000 residents were voting onalmost a fifth of municipal budgets. World Bank research suggests the resulting directimprovements include sewer and water connections being extended to 98 per cent ofhouseholds by 1997 and a quadrupling in school numbers since 1986.

PB has realpotential butI had criticismsof how thevotesworked.

We want oneper cent of allbudgetsdecided on byresidentsthemselves.

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workshop, said that some councillorshad been extremely supportive of PBwhile others were less keen. Inaddition to the 400,000 handed outthrough the process, the winninggroups pledged 94,000 from theirown coffers towards their projects not including volunteering hours.

I think this is quite a powerfulargument for distributing money inthis way we are already seeing thatpublic money is going 20 per centfurther when it goes to communitygroups, he said.

He noted the details of those whowould be willing to lobby the councilleader in a face-to-face meeting, if itcould be arranged.

Hall closed the workshop withsome encouragement. In order tosucceed with this you need severalthings. You need to have skills, youneed to know where the money is

being wasted, and you need to havethe belief that change is possible.

The Brazilian cityof Porto Alegre,whereparticipatorybudgeting beganPhoto: RicardoAndre Frantz