Over 300 residents from nine neighbourhoods in Penzance and Newlyn came together on Tuesday 8th December evening for a fun packed evening of voting and partying at the 'U Choose for Neighbourhoods Together' event.
Residents voted on a variety of projects ranging from homework clubs in Gwavas to a play day in Eastern Green, a summer fun day in Roscadghill, community day trip on Treneere and a shelter for the skate bowl at Princess May! In total 13 projects received just over £7,000 between them. Whilst the voting event was going on the youngsters got to see Father Christmas, got their faces painted, were awed by the magician and had a dance at the disco. Also present were police officers and staff from BTCV, Cornwall Community Bank and a number of volunteers.
Odette Kaute of Roscadghill Area Residents Association said: “The Christmas U-Choose event was fantastic, lots of Roscadghill residents went along, adults and children and everybody is talking about what we are going to do next year with the funding from the successful applications. We would like to thank the organisers for working so hard to put on the Christmas party and looking forward to next Christmas – people are already planning new projects.”
This years event built on the good practice model developed by the Treneere Together Partnership in 2008 which received national recognition for its approach and was used to give residents a direct say on what projects were to receive funding in their neighbourhoods. Further more, all project ideas were actually developed and submitted by residents. This form of engagement and decision making is known as participatory budgeting and will hopefully become more and more popular in the future.
The event was funded, organised and delivered by the Neighbourhoods Together Partnership which is made up of residents associations from Gwavas, Eastern Green, Treneere, Roscadghill, and Penzance Central along with service providers including the police, Penwith Housing Association and Cornwall Council. The partnership aims to improve the quality of life and give residents more of a say in decisions that affect their neighbourhood.
For more information please contact David Sullivan, neighbourhood manager for the partnership on 01736 351 480.
