Clubs, groups, community organisations and individuals with ideas to improve their local area can once again apply for funding through Community Choices to help make them happen.

Community Choices is a participatory budgeting programme that provides local people with a way to apply for public funding to improve their local area and vote to decide how public money is spent.

More than £3m is to be invested across Falkirk's nine wards through the initiative, which is run by Falkirk Council and Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership.

Earlier this year nearly 60 projects secured funding totalling £640,000 through Community Choices.

Funding options

Two funds are available:

• Small Grants Programme: apply for up to £5,000 for ideas and projects that will make a real difference to the lives of people living in each ward. Bids need to be submitted by 19 November.
• Place-based Capital Programme: for proposals that need a Capital investment of more than £5,000 to build something new, improve an asset or purchase equipment. Bids need to be submitted by 7 January.

Idea, votes, funding

Ideas and projects must aim to make their neighbourhood either fairer, healthier, more connected or more inclusive.

Applications that meet the criteria are then put to a public vote and must secure at least 10% of the total eligible votes cast in that ward to secure funding.

Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, Leader of Falkirk Council, said:

"Community Choices gives local people a way to directly influence how a set amount of public money is spent, putting forward ideas to improve their local area and voting for the proposals they want to make happen. It truly is democracy in action.

“Phase one highlighted communities have a real appetite to deliver activities and the social infrastructure that they know is important to them and we hope more groups, clubs, community organisations and individuals apply this time round."