WIREDGOV

Participatory Budgeting is a way of letting local people, rather than officials, decide directly how some local public expenditure is spent within their communities.

The Government's National Strategy on Participatory Budgeting makes clear that it's as relevant for rural areas as for urban areas. The strategy highlights a new initiative to promote Participatory Budgeting in rural areas.

We've launched a pilot project to promote and test Participatory Budgeting in rural areas. We are launching this project in partnership with the Participatory Budgeting Unit and NALC. We hope to be joined by local authorities and parish and town councils.

Our project will:

• Directly help and support several communities test out Participatory Budgeting

• Draw out the experience and learning of the challenges and opportunities of using Participatory Budgeting in a rural context with smaller and more dispersed local village and town communities

• Provide guidance and training materials to support the practicalities of using Participatory Budgeting in rural communities

"There has already been some excellent progress made in Participatory Budgeting in some of our major towns and cities. We now want to see this practice being spread more widely into more rural areas".

Read our leaflet on 'Piloting participatory budgeting in rural England'

For more information please contact us on 01242 534057 or email info@ruralcommunities.gov.uk