Communities and service users in West Lothian will soon have the chance to influence spending through a process called West Lothian Community Choices.
West Lothian Community Choices empowers everyone from community groups to individual service users to get involved in local decision making via a democratic, Participatory Budgeting process.
All local authorities are preparing their own Participatory Budgeting model to ensure that approximately one per cent of their total budget is allocated by communities.
There will be numerous opportunities to participate in Community Choices exercises over the coming months, which will enable local people across West Lothian to be more involved in decisions that affect them and their communities.
Community Choices exercises are set to cover a variety of different topics such as an exercise soon to be launching which will look at how funding should be utilised in the maintenance and enhancement of West Lothian’s parks and open spaces.
Members of the public will be able to engage and have their say at various different stages including using a digital voting platform hosted via the West Lothian Council website.
To keep up to date with West Lothian Community Choices please visit: westlothian.gov.uk/communitychoices
Leader of West Lothian Council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick, said: “West Lothian Community Choices will empower local communities by further involving them in local democratic processes. I would encourage everyone to regularly visit the Community Choices section of the council website where they can keep up to date with which opportunities are open for engagement.”
