Chance to vote for projects to support the young people of Lochaber

Calls for bids have closed for the Lochaber Youth Participatory budget and members of the public are now being invited to have their say on how £10,000 should be spent to support the young people of Lochaber.

Lochaber Councillors have made £10,000 available for distribution to a range of groups, clubs and projects that support young people aged between 11-25 years old.

Community groups and organisations have been submitting applications over the last 2 months to try and obtain a share of the £10,000 and now people are able to vote for their two favourite projects.

This new initiative has been well received by local communities and third sector bodies and attracted 42 eligible applications.

The fund has been set up to:

  • Engage with young people and give them a voice
  • Encourage and support partnership and maximise provision for young people
  • Target young people in need
  • Support the use of Achievement programmes with young people. For example, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Youth Achievement Award, Dynamic Youth awards

The full list of bids can now be viewed by visiting www.highland.gov.uk/YouthPB

Voting will open on Monday 14th September and close at 5pm on Sunday 20th September.  People will be able to cast their votes on-line by using the above link, or for anyone without access to a computer, postal voting forms will be available from Highland Council Service Points from the 14th. 

Once the public on-line and postal voting has taken place a panel of young people from each of the four Lochaber High School areas will also rank their favourite bids. This will have a 25% weighting on the votes to give young people a strong voting voice in the process.

There is a total fund pot available of £10,000 and the results of the successful projects will be announced on Wednesday 23rd September.

3 Sep 2015