{"id":1150,"date":"2025-05-29T12:59:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T11:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2025-05-29T12:59:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T11:59:40","slug":"just-transition-participatory-budgeting-fund-year-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/05\/29\/just-transition-participatory-budgeting-fund-year-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund: year three"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund is part of our commitment to public participation in the Open Government Action Plan 2021-2025<\/a>. Read about what’s been happening in it’s 3 years and the impact the fund has had on communities in the North East of Scotland.<\/p>\n

The Just Transition Participatory Budgeting (JTPB) Fund<\/a>, supported through the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, was introduced in 2022 to empower residents in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray to shape the region\u2019s transition to net zero. Participatory Budgeting<\/a> (PB) is different from other forms of public funding as it gives local people a direct say in how money is spent in their area. Using PB to support Scotland\u2019s progress to net zero provides a platform for community voices, perspectives and priorities to be heard, especially those with little previous engagement on climate issues, but who may be particularly impacted by it.<\/p>\n

Three years of the JTPB Fund<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the first two years of the JTPB Fund, over 29,000 people voted to distribute \u00a32.5 million capital funding to 98 successful projects. A further \u00a31 million was provided for the third year in 2024-25. As well as this capital funding, the Scottish Government provided \u00a3212,000 revenue funding for five partners<\/a> to deliver the Fund. During year three, the partners carried out a range of publicity events to raise awareness of the fund to community groups. This included several online and in-person drop-in events, one-on-one application support, as well as school visits to promote and encourage youth participation.<\/p>\n

This resulted in 85 eligible applications, ranging from \u00a31,348 to \u00a350,000, being put forward to the public vote. Over 18,000 people across the three regions voted, roughly 3% of the population, and 47 projects<\/a> were successful.<\/p>\n

Innovative fund proposals<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The main use of the fund continues to be for the provision of private electric vehicles for community groups and supporting improvements to the energy efficiency of buildings. Year three has also seen more innovative proposals to support the local area such as:<\/p>\n