Projects are given cash
More than £6,000 has been allocated to youth projects on Arran in one of Scotland’s largest participatory budgeting exercises.
More than £6,000 has been allocated to youth projects on Arran in one of Scotland’s largest ever online participatory budgeting exercises exclusively for young people.
Over the course of a week earlier this month, more than 5,000 young people visited Young Scots online voting platform to decide how £60,762 should be allocated to youth projects across North Ayrshire, with 46 projects receiving funding.
Young people aged 11-25 were asked to rate projects available in their locality in order of preference, with the most popular projects in each area given a share of the funding.
And the results have seen £6,281 allocated to five projects on Arran, although the process also has losers.
There has been some criticism that the participatory budget system is divisive, with calls for the money to be shared out among more groups.
The winners were: Arran Youth Foundations, which came top of the votes cast online with 83 and secured £1,500; Arran High School’s extra-curricular sport, £1,400; Mind Your Health, a mental health toolkit for schools, £1,500; Arran Kayak Club, £1,500; Dungeons and Dragons Group, which missed at participatory budget meeting on Arran, £381.
Those who missed out were: Arran High School, young leaders, £1,500; Arran High School Choir £1,425; Arran High Triathlon Club, £1,500 Arran High, Story Board Project, £750.
Around 130 applications were received from a wide variety of organisations across North Ayrshire which were whittled down to shortlist of 69 going forward for the public vote.
The shortlist included a range of projects for sports clubs, film groups and campaigns to raise awareness of mental health.
Speaking about the event, North Ayrshire’s youth champion, Councillor Peter McNamara, said: ‘We are delighted that so many young people from all over North Ayrshire got involved in this participatory budgeting exercise.
‘They literally turned out in their thousands to decide how money should be spent on youth and extracurricular projects for young people.
‘We hope they enjoyed taking part and we look forward to seeing how the funding is spent to make a difference in all six localities.’