A conversation with citizens about budget challenges
The challenge
The Scottish Borders Council needed to make savings and wanted to open up a conversation with citizens about the budget challenge they faced. They were seeking a way of involving and consulting the public to gain insights into areas where money might be saved.
The approach
Through Dialogue, the Scottish Borders Council were able to engage citizens effectively, online, about possible budget savings. The platform provided them with a convenient way of hearing from the public, making it easy for people to submit ideas on possible savings and efficiencies.
The council covers a fairly large area and citizens from differing towns and communities could all be involved with budget consultation and have their opinions heard and recognised.
The results
The consultations the Scottish Border Council have run so far have had good numbers of users, with many of those users submitting ideas which can be channeled directly into budget-setting by the council.
Following their initial use of Dialogue, the council has gone on to run several more challenges on the platform, making it a regular part of their process for public participation.
The consultations the Scottish Border Council have run so far have had good numbers of users, with many of those users submitting ideas which can be channeled directly into budget-setting by the council. Following their initial use of Dialogue, the council has gone on to run several more challenges on the platform, making it a regular part of their process for public participation.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.