13 June 2017

Have your say on which projects in Fraserburgh should get funding

Local residents in Fraserburgh still have time to decide which projects should receive a share of £100,000 to help improve health, wellbeing the environment and their community.
 
During March and April organisations and groups were asked to bid for the £100,000 on offer. Bids could range from £200 to £10,000 and they had to provide details of what they money would be spent on.
 
There was a big response with bids totaling almost double the funding on offer.

In total there were 36 applications with bids totaling around £200,000.
 
Over 1700 votes were cast online before Monday’s deadline but people can vote in person on the big event day at Fraserburgh Academy on Saturday 17th June.
 
Anyone aged 12 and over, who lives in Fraserburgh is entitled to vote. All projects are displayed at www.yourvoiceyourchoice.scot
 
Doors will open at 9am for registration with the event starting at 9:45. Each project will be given 2 mins to persuade people to vote for them followed by 2 mins of questions.
 
After all the presentations, people attending the event will be asked to vote for three of the projects. The votes from the day will be added to the online votes and the projects who have the most support will receive funding. The successful bids will be announced on the day.
 
The Your Voice Your Choice initiative is called Participatory Budgeting which puts the decisions on who should receive funding in the hands of local people rather than officers or elected members
 
The participatory budgeting initiative is being run by a local steering group which is made up of local residents, Community Planning,  community groups, the voluntary sector, Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Aberdeenshire Council and NHS Grampian.
 
This is the second year it has taken place but the first time people have been able to vote online.
 
This year’s funding is coming jointly from the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership and the Fraserburgh Regeneration Development Partnership.