Hey, Big Spender!

Drighlington residents poured into Drighlington Meeting Hall  to vote on the allocation of £30,000 of grant funding from the Drighlington Big Spender Process.

The Big Spender Project, which brought together funds from Leeds City Council, Outer South Area Committee and Aire Valley Homes, gave local residents the final say on which local projects should receive finance. Over a dozen projects were offered up for consideration with each applying group given 3 minutes to present their case. Residents were then asked to fill in voting cards by allocating points on the basis of community benefit, acheivability and value for money.

Councillor Robert Finnigan, who attended the meeting said "I was delighted with the turn out from Drighlington residents. The Meeting Hall was almost full and the audience enjoyed every presentation."

Successful winners included Drighlington Scouts, Morley Policing Team, Drighlington Pensioner Groups and Drighlington Rugby Club with projects including improvements to a local scout hall, additional bicycles for local police officers, transport for pensioners and projects aimed at providing more for Drighlington young people to do.

Councillor Finnigan said "This was the first attempt at running a participatory budgeting event across the Leeds City Council area. Local residents have been empowered and have been directly involved in the decision making process. I am delighted at how the event has been welcomed by local people and it is a credit to Drighlington that the process was so enthusiastically endorsed."

The Event will now be reviewed to see if it can be rolled out to other communities.