Residents will be invited to make Dragon's Den-style pitches for council cash under government plans to give voters more control over local spending plans. Communities secretary, Hazel Blears, announced ‘participatory budgeting' pilots across 12 local authorities on 16 September. Local groups will make proposals to spend a portion of public recycling, health and children's services budgets and other residents will be asked to choose their favoured plans for implementation. Councils chosen include the counties of Norfolk and Staffordshire, the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Haringey, and the cities of Leeds and York. Norfolk CC has agreed to allocate up to £200,000 of its budget through the scheme. Ms Blears wants the programme to be rolled out nationally by 2012.
