Wansbeck projects benefit from community X factor contest

Posted by The Journal on Mar 17, 09 09:11 AM in Clubs/Societies

Twenty community projects in Northumberland are sharing a ÃÂ£60,000 funding pot following an X Factor-style voting competition aimed at boosting grass roots democracy.

The You Decide initiative in Wansbeck was part of a national pilot scheme to involve local people and communities in deciding how public money should be spent in their area.

It culminated in a special Decision Day when 37 bidders put their case for a share of the money before an audience of local people equipped with electronic voting pads to decide who got what and how much.

The 20 projects chosen to receive a share of the cash included the Friends of Choppington Woods, who were awarded ÃÂ£10,000 to help make 200 acres of woodland more accessible and better used by local people.

Chairman, Martin Kitching, said that would involve creating multi-use trails for use by everyone - including mothers with buggies and disabled people in wheelchairs - re-introducing colourful flower meadows and informing visitors about the coal-mining history of the site.

"We are absolutely over the moon at being awarded this funding. Finding the funding for projects like this is extremely difficult."

Other winners included Rachel Hill, 17, from Bedlington Station, who gets ÃÂ£6,000 to help launch a teen magazine for Wansbeck, and Margaret Neary and Barry Chatfield from Ashington, who were awarded ÃÂ£1,783 to buy a sound system for rock and roll nights they run at the town's Central Club.

And a group of green-fingered Bedlington teenagers were given ÃÂ£880 to allow them to continue developing an allotment for communal use in the town.

The You Decide project was co-ordinated by Wansbeck CVS in partnership with the district council and the Wansbeck Initiative.

Bill Gale, one of the CVS project leaders, said: "What it has clearly shown is that people are interested in what is happening in their midst, and that they want to be involved in part of the decision making process so far as public purse spending is concerned.

"On the day the voting process was transparent and we believe it is now up to the new unitary council to take this forward and devolve this pilot to other communities in the county."

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