Assemblies and Working Groups - participatory budgeting in Newham
A public assembly was used to set priorities for local neighbourhoods. Anyone could come; extensive outreach was used to recruit people targeted towards groups historically less likely to take part. Participants started by reflecting on what they appreciate about their area before thinking about what improvements need making. They were presented with maps showing ‘hot spots’ where councils were receiving most complaints from residents. Themes were identified by facilitators and participants were given a set number of votes to choose which themes should be priorities for their neighbourhood.
Participants could volunteer to take part in a working group, with members chosen at random from volunteers across each neighbourhood. They met in facilitated workshops alongside local stakeholders. These working groups reflected on what was heard, thought about the changes needed, and came up with proposals for responding.
A second assembly was used to develop these desired outcomes and the proposals for achieving these goals.
The working group then worked these ideas up into concrete proposals for a neighbourhood plan.
At a final assembly participants found out about proposals at different stands and voted to choose their favourite projects within each theme. Those chosen formed a neighbourhood plan which the local council would enact.