Another Green PB Seal for Scotland: City of Edinburgh Council
/The City of Edinburgh Council have now been awarded a Green PB Seal for their Green Participatory Budgeting Programme – “The Edinburgh Community Climate Fund” - which was launched in 2023.
The aim of the programme is to empower the City of Edinburgh’s community members to directly decide on the allocation of a portion of the council’s budget towards dedicated environmental projects. This initiative not only supports green projects but also fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among residents towards their local environment and empowers local people to get involved in activities that will contribute to the City of Edinburgh Climate Strategy.
The programme, which was originally co-produced with representatives from the public, community and voluntary sectors including representatives from the Edinburgh Equality and Rights Network, saw £140,000 disseminated to 8 projects across the City in early 2024. Over two and a half thousand local people voted in the process casting in excess of 10,000 votes across the 56 applications received.
The key to the success of the project has been attributed to the extensive community engagement process that aimed to increase community participation and develop more inclusive ways of working with local people.
This process involved a range of diverse engagement activities including:
Conducting numerous information workshops, drop-in meetings and educational campaigns to ensure wide participation.
Providing a dedicated digital platform for voting and suggestions that made participation accessible to a broader demographic, including young people and working professionals.
Utilising a range of communication and engagement channels that allowed them to target groups who do not normally participate in community engagement activities such as placing lamp post wraps near all of their community and school libraries.
Ensuring young people could take part by using the Young Scot digital platform which young people currently use to access local rewards.
Supporting minority groups to take part by distributing printed material to groups who worked directly with those traditionally less likely to engage.
Displaying information in libraries and ensuring those who could not vote online were supported to participate by library staff.
In addition to providing diverse engagement activities during the Participatory Budgeting process, the team also ensured that extensive evaluation and follow up activities with unsuccessful applicants were conducted.
The evaluation of the process clearly showed programme success and highlighted ongoing support and continuing appetite amongst local communities for more Green PB activity in the City of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Community Climate Fund Update
An impact report detailing updates on all projects delivered through the Community Climate Fund has been published online, Edinburgh Community Climate Fund Evaluation. The programme aimed to empower City of Edinburgh residents to directly allocate a portion of the council’s budget towards environmental projects. The evaluation highlights that the programme not only supports green initiatives but also fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among residents and encourages local involvement in activities that contribute to the City of Edinburgh Climate Strategy. The cumulative impact of the projects includes:
7,910 volunteer hours from 697 volunteers
6,815 car miles replaced with bike miles
106 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill and reused
£237,123 of additional funding received
Over 29,723 individual beneficiaries
Over 278 tonnes of CO2 saved
45 tonnes of food distributed
It is with delight that the Green PB seal is offered to the City of Edinburgh Council and we look forward to seeing more developments in this are in the future.
