Newcastle City Council - Cleaner, Greener, Safer Pilot Year 2 (2007)

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Aims

• To build on the achievements of year 1.
• To involve more residents, especially from parts of the community who are less likely to participate.
• To test new electronic voting equipment.
• To continue learning.

Where did it happen?

• The outer west of the city in Denton, Lemington and Woolsington.

How did it work?

• This year, there was £80,000 to spend!
• The Udecide Working Group invited residents in the 3 wards to come up with project ideas for spending the money on the theme of ‘Cleaner, Greener, Safer’.
• The Working Group and Udecide officers worked hard to support groups who would not normally engage to enter a project idea.
• Udecide’s profile had also grown due to the success of the previous year and the number of project ideas exceeded expectations.
• The Working Group checked the ideas against the criteria. This was a difficult part of the process but the Working Group made their decisions democratically and 33 project ideas were short listed.
• The successful applicants attended a huge Grand Voting Event at the Centre for Life to showcase their ideas – over 150 residents attended.
• Residents discussed and voted on the ideas using electronic voting equipment.
• The top scoring ideas were announced and unsuccessful applicants directed to other funding sources.

Who was involved?

The Working Group – a partnership between a group of 40 residents from the three wards and council officers.

The Newcastle Partnership – provided the funding from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, and the Stronger, Safer, Communities Fund.

The PB Unit – an organisation committed to the development of PB in the UK who provided expertise to the Udecide officers and the Working Group.

The Newcastle Participatory Budgeting Learning Group – comprised of local residents, reps from the public, private, and community and voluntary sector, both universities and experts from the PB Unit who met to share experience and improve the project.

What did it achieve?

• Led by the community in partnership with council officers - residents managed the process, came up with project ideas as well as voting on the ideas.
• Involved a wider range of groups. Using the e-voting we could monitor the voter profile and 67% of voters had not participated in year 1.
• Proved, using the e-voting, that people vote altruistically. Resident didn’t just vote for project ideas in their community.
• Brought different groups together, to share their ideas and ambitions for their community. Groups that met at the Grand Voting Event have arranged to work together on future projects.
• Raised the profile of Udecide. The project was cited in a Government publication and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has cited the project as an inspiration.
• Raised the profile of the Working Group. The Working Group won the Regeneration and Renewal Magazine Award for ‘Neighbourhood Renewal Project of the Year’ and has spoken at a number conferences and seminars about their experiences, including a conference in Ottawa, Canada.
• Improved the process. A bigger event with wider involvement – 97% said ‘I would do this again’ (81% Year 1).
• Reflected on the previous year. Attendees looked at last year’s projects and 74% said they had benefited the community. This is despite the fact that 67% of the attendees were newcomers to Udecide.
• Developed a responsive process. All the 27 projects that won funding were delivered in 5 months, meeting the deadline.
• Learned that Udecide is an effective way to get communities involved in decisions. The pilot was a success and Udecide should continue.
• Produced a DVD to share our experiences.

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