As part of Aberdeen City Council’s Participatory Budgeting programme, known as UDECIDE, the Fairer Aberdeen Fund allotted £75,000 and Aberdeen City Council’s Environmental Services identified £25,000 for health and wellbeing initiatives and other projects that aim to engage young people with nature and tackle climate change.

The Fairer Aberdeen Board steering group worked in partnership with the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership’s Health Improvement Fund and ACVO’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund to allocate funds to a wide variety of initiatives which otherwise may not have received funding.

Councillor Jenny Laing, who is chair of Community Planning Aberdeen, said: “It is great to see such diverse projects receiving funding as a result of another round of participatory budgeting.

Participatory Budgeting is community empowerment at its best as it allows local people to decide how public money is spent in their communities. Aberdeen City Council’s UDECIDE programme has grown from strength to strength and I’m looking forward to seeing more community groups and local people benefit in the future.”

The winning projects (and organisations) included Street Soccer Scotland who will run free football tournaments for young people in Aberdeen; Fresh Community Wellness for art initiatives in Seaton/Linksfield and the provision of outdoor fitness facilities; Kings Community Foundation who will help young people living in the city develop healthy self-esteem and emotional wellbeing; Create Aberdeen for the creation of a Makaton choir for adults with learning disabilities; and Mental Health Aberdeen for the creation of sensory spaces across Aberdeen.

Other organisations had innovative ideas on how to improve the natural environment and encourage young people to engage with outdoor spaces. These included community gardens, food growing, coastal learning activities, outdoor cooking facilities, event shelters, litter clean ups and native tree planting along the banks of the Rivers Dee and Don.

The projects supported by participatory budgeting will contribute towards achieving the People and Place stretch outcomes in Community Planning Aberdeen’s Local Outcome Improvement Plan whilst also supporting the aims of the Aberdeen Adapts Climate Adaptation Framework.