Live discussion: lessons from the community budget pilots
Author: Sarah Marsh, the Guardian |
Alex Thomson took part in a Guardian live debate on community budgets.
Local needs are now being met by public service providers working together to manage community budgets. Join our experts at midday on Wednesday 17 April to find out how.
Local authorities are being given more freedom over how they spend money, cutting through the red tape and waste associated with central control. One way this financial control is being passed down to residents is through community budgets.
Just over a year ago the government announced the 14 areas that would pioneer a community budgeting scheme, aimed at saving millions of pounds by helping communities to help themselves. The four showcase areas – Cheshire West and Cheshire, Essex, Greater Manchester and west London – were joined by 10 other ‘neighbourhood’ level budgets running smaller test projects.
Still in their early stages, community budgets have proved hugely successful in giving local people more power to decide where and how council taxpayers’ money should be spent in their areas. Philippa Roe, leader of Westminster council, called for chancellor George Osborne to include community budgets in the 2013 budget claiming: “We could save up to £5bn every year by introducing local funding and new freedoms.”
A new network of public sector agencies is set to spread the lessons learned by these community budget project, so what has the exercise taught local government so far?
Join us to share your thoughts and ask questions, live from 12-2pm on Wednesday 17 April. We’ll be hearing from our panel of community budget experts, so let them know what’s on your mind. You can ask a question in advance now by leaving a comment in the thread below.
Click here to read the original article and expert discussion.