The removal of waste in natural areas was selected by the departments of Hérault and Aude last year (illustration) -

N. Bonzom / Maxele Presse

  • Many communities set up participatory budgets.

  • It is the theme of the environment that is most present, among the ideas proposed by citizens within the framework of these participatory democracy mechanisms.

  • There can also be differences, in the projects, between the city and the countryside.

Participatory budgets have flourished in recent years.

Many communities offer their taxpayers the opportunity to carry the projects that are important to them.

The Hérault department has launched its second budget of its kind: residents have until April 20 to post their ideas on the jeparticipe.herault.fr platform.

"This makes it possible to bring back the ideas of citizens, and put them into action, so that it is not always the governors who think, think and act", says Julie Garcin-Saudo (PS), elected to equal opportunities and citizenship.

A citizens' committee will meet to select the most relevant projects, and Hérault residents will be invited to vote for the best.

The winners will see their dreams come true next year.

And to have a chance to be chosen, it is necessary, first of all, to respect some basic rules: the project must be technically, financially and legally feasible and must “benefit the collective interest”, notes the elected representative.

A majority of environmental projects in the Hérault

If the projects are diverse, even unusual (photographing the heritage of Pic Saint-Loup from kites, for example), it is often the same themes that attract the attention of voters.

“For the first participatory budget, there were a majority of projects relating to sustainable development, ecology, the environment,” notes the elected official.

No less than 45% of the ideas proposed related to this theme.

And, of the 50 winning projects, 20 were focused on ecology, and shared an envelope of 613,500 euros.

Among them, the Sentinelles de la rivière, an association of kayakers who rid the Lez of waste.

Or the installation of nesting boxes in church steeples, to encourage the return of owls to the villages.

Among the other promising themes, soft mobility, solidarity and the fight against precariousness.

In Aude, the participatory budget, in 2020, also gave pride of place to greener tomorrow, with the creation of a squirrel footbridge on the roads, or the cleaning of the Berre, where pile of garbage.

The department was also committed to offering 300,000 euros to projects with an environmental vocation.

Improve the daily life of inhabitants in more rural areas

This preponderance of environmental projects, witness to a collective awareness of these issues, does not surprise Antoine Bézard, founder of the platform lesbudgetsparticipatifs.fr.

"More and more communities are even setting up participatory budgets entirely dedicated to the issue of the environment and development, but also to related subjects, such as cycling", confides this expert.

In the Aude, where rurality is strong, many laureates also had the ambition to improve the daily life of the inhabitants a little: to offer recent film sessions in small rooms in the villages, to create a weight room in a high school. , a traveling bus in which adolescents can benefit from psychological support or a “fab lab” to introduce residents to digital manufacturing.

Playgrounds, champions of participatory budgets

In Clapiers (Hérault), a village of 5,500 inhabitants, which launched its first participatory budget in 2017, it is also the town's equipment that takes precedence: the device has made it possible to install wooden furniture in the courtyard. school, and to expand an area for children.

"Playgrounds are the most voted projects in France, whether in big cities or in small villages", continues Antoine Bézard.

But, in the city and the countryside, the ideas implemented in these budgets are sometimes a little different.

"There are fewer public services in the countryside, so the participatory budget is an opportunity to bring them back," he notes.

Our file on the participatory budget

There is another factor that gives participatory budgets a special tone: the voters.

“Before, there were neighborhood councils, with men who were often quite old,” notes Antoine Bézard.

It was a bit like the anteroom of the city council.

Participatory budgets, on the other hand, involve younger people, including many parents, and many more women.

And that has a real influence on the projects.

An older person will probably not have the same expectations as a mother, for example, who will no doubt want her children to be able to play in her neighborhood.

"

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  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Participative democracy

  • Citizenship

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