Udecided

Update: congratulations to the winner & runner up, both of which loosely qualify for the £25,000: 1. Children's adventure Ship (£17,000); 2. Zip Wire (£9,000).

Another pressing commitment prevented my attending last night’s Udecide meeting. There are, however, two reports of proceedings and if anyone has anything to offer as to what happened and the result, please use the comments facility.

An anonymous comment late last night read:

“Sadly the majority of the attendees were the same OLD same OLD! Although the actual outcome was a great result for young children in Ruthin the majority of voters that turned up were the usual suspects (Rhuthun town council, older residents and set in their ways folk). This meant that projects like the youth shelter didn't stand a chance due to the typical stereotypical views that are labelled to teenagers. On saying that though the turnout of young people was disappointing and if they had come out in force then the result could of been different.”

Early this morning, Kathleen Agnew said:

“My son and his friend submitted an idea for the project at the very last minute, 4:59pm! I had no idea that it would lead me to be standing on the stage at Brynhyfryd dressed as a sailor. What fun we had and what an opportunity for our children see democracy in progress. Although we came sixth in the end, the children are still delighted with the choices made by a large audience. Denbighshire County Council wake up to this. This is the way forward to a greater enfranchised public and energised communities.”

Two opposing views as to how participatory budgeting worked in Rhuthun. Remember, that this has never been tried before, either here or on such a large scale in Sir Ddinbych/Denbighshire. Perhaps this sort of thing has a future… provided everyone is engaged.

One issue is that little notice was given as to the date. Some households received their leaflets late. I understand leaflets were circulating at Ysgol Brynhyfryd on Monday, the day beforehand. Experience would suggest that this would not have resulted in a greater turnout but it might, for example, have given me opportunity to switch my own priorities...