West Lothian Community Choices
Communities in West Lothian are being given the chance to influence how budgets in their area are allocated through a process called Community Choices.
West Lothian Community Choices is West Lothian's version of Participatory Budgeting - a democratic process which empowers people and communities to have a greater say in how public money is spent.
A number of Community Choices exercises will be undertaken throughout West Lothian, enabling local people to be more involved in decisions that affect them and their community.
West Lothian Community Choices gives communities the opportunity to decide on how to allocate various budget areas totalling over £4 million.
Community Choices can be carried out in lots of different ways ranging from public events to digital-only experiences. You can find more detail on the individual Community Choices projects using the tabs below.
The Scottish Government are supporting Participatory Budgeting as a tool for involving communities and as a way of building democracy locally. They have set a target that at least 1% of council budgets will be decided on through a community choices process by 2021.
If you would like more information on Participatory Budgeting the PB Scotland Website has a whole range of resources available.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and The Democratic Society have produced a video about Mainstreaming Participatory Budgeting - 'Towards the Mainstream'
If you would like more information on West Lothian Community Choices, please contact Ailsa Mackerrow on 01506 81306 or by email: ailsa.mackerrow@westlothian.gov.uk.
