PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING SCHEME

Stocksbridge Town Council receive income from Sheffield City Council which is derived from planning developments in the area, this is known as Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

CIL is levied on new developments to fund infrastructure provision and is implemented by local planning authorities. Legislation requires that 15% of CIL collected within the local area is to be retained in that area to be spent on projects that benefit the local community. This is the element of CIL that the Town Council receive.

CIL regulations state that it has to be spent on:- The provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure or anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.

The Town Council have determined four Spending Priorities as the criteria for CIL expenditure, these being:-

Environmental Projects

Access Works

Road Safety Measures

Recreational Facility Improvements

The Town Council would like the community to be involved in expenditure of CIL and have therefore implemented a Participatory Budgeting scheme for this purpose. Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a process which allows members of a community to participate in making spending decisions about local things that affect them. The process allows for community groups to submit bids for projects that fit the criteria and for the community to vote on their preferred project. The winner(s) are decided by which project(s) receive the majority of the votes.

A PB Task Group has been set up to administer the scheme. This group includes representatives covering various sectors of the Town Council area including, rural, recreational, elderly and the community as a whole. It comprises of the following:-

Chairman, Barbara Horsman Stocksbridge Community Forum

Andy Clarke, Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre

Tony Peers, Bolsterstone Community Group

Sylvia Parry, 50plus Group

3 Town Councillors

Full results can be found on the links below:-

The Town Council planned a further Participatory Budgeting event for 2024 with £36,000 of funding available for groups/organisations to apply for.  Only 3 applications were received, therefore the decision was taken by the Participatory Budgeting Task Group to award all 3 groups with the funding requested, being:-

Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre – £10,000 towards new pool covers

Steel Valley Project – £9,936 towards Oxley Park All Wheels Park Landscape Improvements

Upper Don Trails Trust – £1,957 towards a Waymarking Project

Participatory Budget Event Results 2022

PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING RESULTS MAY 2019