Ward councillors wield their spending power

Ward councillors - armed with more spending power to help their communities - are beginning to come forward with the projects they want to benefit from the Royal Borough's Local Budget programme.

In this latest stage of the council's successful participatory budget (PB) initiative that gives residents more say in how their council tax is spent, all 57 councillors have been allocated £750 to support community projects in their wards.

Councillors have flexibility to split the money between projects, award it as a lump sum to just one or they can work together to pool their resources either within their own wards or across ward boundaries, depending on the community action they believe is most deserving of a financial boost.

So far seven councillors have come forward with their spending plans:
• Cllr Duncan McBride (Ascot and Cheapside) - warning signs on the road leading to Cheapside School, Ascot
• Cllr M J Saunders (Cookham and Bisham) - upgrade and improvement to the sound system in the Pinder Hall which is a cultural, social and charitable hub for the Cookham communities
• Cllr Peter Lawless (Eton Wick) - a specially-designed guard to protect an oak tree to be planted to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
• Cllr Colin Rayner (Horton and Wraysbury) - upgrade and improvements to the footpath and cycleway from Wraysbury to Hythe End
• Cllr Simon Dudley (Maidenhead Riverside) - contribution to the Thames Path project
• Cllrs Christine Bateson and Sayonara Luxton (Sunningdale) - pooling their cash to provide a new bench for the recreation ground and three recycling bins (one outside Charters School and two at the recreation ground).

Cllr David Burbage, council leader, said the councillors' response so far reflected the diversity of local communities and their priorities.

He said: "It is really interesting to see how councillors are linking with the people in their wards and coming forward with schemes that are dear to local hearts.

"Member budgets, while new to the borough, have been used in other areas for some time and I am really looking forward to seeing the growing list of community projects that will benefit from this extra pot of cash. We are giving ward councillors the power to respond to the people they represent in a very tangible financial way."

The member budgets enlarge the council's Local Budget portfolio which has already seen residents voting for how £250,000 of their council tax should be spent on schemes that are of benefit both borough wide and in the geographic areas of Windsor, Maidenhead and Ascot/The Sunnings. Residents are also continuing to vote online for the neighbourhood schemes bidding for a £2,000 share of a further £50,000 pot of council cash.

Further information about the ward councillors' budgets is available on the Local Budget web pages at www.rbwm.gov.uk (click on Your Local Budget) and information about how they spend their allocations will be published as it becomes available.

How do you rate this information/service?