Davy Jones Consultancy

Two years ago, who would have believed that Participatory Budgeting would have become so well-known and so widely practised in the UK? In one leap it has moved from left-field to mainstream.

How has this happened?

1) Great credit is due to the Participatory Budgeting Unit and the small band of believers who have promoted PB assiduously in recent years. And the early pilots in Newcastle, Bradford and Salford were crucial to show it could work.

2) It is a classic case of an idea whose time has come, in the right place at the right time. As Government has shifted the emphasis to citizens holding local services to account, proven methods of engaging people in decisions on services and budgets are at a premium. There are not many options – PB stands out among them.

3) By a stroke of luck, a Cabinet reshuffle brought in Hazel Blears as Secretary of State, personally committed to empowering local people and from Salford, a PB pilot area. Rebranded as community kitties, PB re-emerged as her personal initiative, with a promise that it should be offered in every local authority area by 2012 - the first national government in the world to make such a commitment.

Extraordinary!

What is happening now?

PB is spreading quickly. As well as the official 22 pilots, new areas keep appearing out of the blue who are implementing PB (Gateshead). Others pop up unexpectedly with ambitious proposals for taking PB forward (Buckinghamshire). Experienced pilots (Newcastle) are discussing how to bring PB into the mainstream and to link it into the Local Area Agreement process.
And there is a national conference in Manchester on 15th September with Hazel Blears speaking. Email me for a flyer.
The DCLG consultation on a national strategy for PB has just come to an end. Respondents have identified some weaknesses in the strategy:
* a lack of buy-in from other Government departments;
* inadequate pump-priming resources to help PB develop locally; and
* insufficient emphasis on persuading councillors of the benefits of PB

But can it last ?

There are risks appearing on the horizon. The Brown government is in such disarray that another reshuffle is likely, and the PB champion Hazel Blears might be moved on. Longer term, the public seems to have reached a turning point of disillusion with New Labour. Would there be the same level of enthusiasm for PB from a new Tory government?
The window of opportunity as always may be small: two years to embed PB in as many areas as possible (especially areas with Conservative councils), show it can work, and make it so popular that people resist those whose instinct is to take it away.