YOUNGSTERS from the Three Towns turned out in force to help secure over £12,000 of funding for projects in their area during the latest round of youth participatory budgeting.

From Friday, February 2, until Friday, February 9, almost 7,000 young people, representing almost 50 per cent of those eligible, visited Young Scot’s online voting platform to decide how £50,000 should be allocated to youth projects across North Ayrshire.

The exercise formed part of North Ayrshire Council’s ‘Year of Young People’ (YoYP) 2018 programme and attracted funding applications from youth groups, organisations and individuals based on one of the six YoYP themes of: culture; education; enterprise and regeneration; equality and discrimination; health and wellbeing; and participation.

Young people aged 8-25 were asked to rate projects in order of preference – with the most popular given a share of the funding. And from the 70 projects in the running, 58 were successful in their bid – including 13 from the Three Towns, such as Evolution Skatepark, Ardrossan Academy Gymnastics, North Ayrshire Hockey Club, St Anthony’s Parent Council and the Scottish Centre for Personal Safety.

North Ayrshire’s Youth Champion, Councillor Shaun Macaulay, said: “We’re delighted that so many young people from all over North Ayrshire got involved in this special PB event. They turned out in their thousands to decided how £50,000 should be spend on activities and events that celebrate this fantastic year for young people.

“We are delighted with the huge participation levels, which only goes to show how engaged our young people are here in North Ayrshire.

“We hope it was a fun and rewarding initiative for them all and we look forward to hearing how the money has helped enhance 2018 – the Year of Young People.”