Citizenship Participation department has already received thirty proposals for the 2024 participatory budget

The Department of Citizen Participation has already received around thirty proposals to be executed under the participatory budget for the next year when there are still two weeks left before the deadline to present them, set for October 30 at 11:59 p.m. The rate of receipt of proposals is similar to that of last year, as reported by the Department, "so we hope that in the end, they will even exceed the 130 proposals received a year ago, which was a record," said the Councilor for Citizen Participation, Ana Pellicer.

The councilor has encouraged all citizens registered in Benidorm over 18 years of age to “make and present the proposals that they consider most necessary to improve their neighborhoods because we have shown that the proposals that are finally incorporated into the participatory budgets are executed and it is the best way for citizens to see their demands satisfied.”

“In addition,” she continued, “they are the ones who best know the needs of each neighborhood and who can best convey to us what is needed in each area.”

Pellicer recalled in this sense that the City Council allocates at least 5% of the investment chapter contemplated in the municipal budget to this concept "although in the end that percentage is higher and greatly exceeds the amount initially planned." Thus, from the 90,000 euros planned in 2016, it has increased to more than 600,000 allocated in the last year.

Since the first participatory budget was prepared in 2015, the City Council has undertaken and executed a large number of actions emanating from neighborhood proposals. Among them are the adapted children's games in Elche Park, the access ramp to Levante Beach in Torrejó, the accessible sidewalks in the Els Tolls neighborhood, the adaptation of traffic lights for deaf-blind people on Comunidad Valenciana Avenue at the junction of Europa Avenue and Belgium Street, the pedestrian walkway that connects Italia Street with Palau d'Esports, the elimination of architectural barriers and improvement of road and pedestrian safety in Els Tolls, the expansion of Els Ametllers Park, the comprehensive renovation of Elche Park, the ramp on Herrerías Street, the improvement of accessibility in the downtown area, the creation of a roundabout at the junction of Ricardo Bayona and Venezuela, the urbanization of Finca Barrina, the adaptation of Plaza de las Tiendas, the rehabilitation of the road worker's booth in Emilio Ortuño or the creation of playgrounds and green areas, among others.

The head of Citizen Participation wanted to clarify that the neighborhood proposals "do not have to be related to their neighborhoods, but can propose improvements for any other area that they consider for the benefit and enjoyment of all in favor of accessibility or another aspect that needs to be improved.

According to the Regulation, the proposals will be framed in several areas or blocks. The first covers Urban Planning, Urban Scene, and Mobility. The second is Equality, Social Welfare, Health, and the Elderly. The third block is occupied by Tourism, Beaches, and Citizen Security. The fourth includes proposals related to Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports, and the last is related to actions related to the Environment and Street Cleaning.

Each citizen can submit as many proposals as they wish. The proposals will be presented in writing at the General Registry located on the ground floor of the Town Hall from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., through the Electronic Headquarters –https://sede.benidorm.org- or by sending an email to advicevecinal@benidorm.org to the attention of the Department of Citizen Participation. It can also be done through the digital platform launched last year https://benidorm.governalia.es

The form to present the proposals and all the details can be consulted at https://benidorm.org/es/ayuntamiento/concejalias/participacion-ciudadana, by accessing the Participatory Budgets section.

Once all the proposals have been collected, they will be voted on in person by thematic blocks in the Assembly. Which will be held on November 2 at 6:00 p.m. at the Casa del Fester. In it, the proponents, if they wish, will have two minutes to explain them.

Likewise, for the second consecutive year, telematic voting will be enabled to expand the scope of the initiative. It will be available from November 8 until 11:59 p.m. on November 30 and will be articulated through https://benidorm.governalia.es, a platform launched last year thanks to a subsidy from the Provincial Council of Alicante.

After both votes, a technical commission will be in charge of evaluating and prioritizing the actions based on the distributive justice criteria included in the bases. Thus, priority will be given to actions that contribute to satisfying the basic needs of the population (water, electricity, security, education, citizen coexistence, etc.); that help reduce social inequality (gender, income, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability); those that meet environmental sustainability criteria (having nearby, renewable, decentralized and self-sufficient resources); those that benefit a greater percentage of the population; or those in which it has not been invested before or has not been invested enough.

Subsequently, these proposals will be the subject of a technical and economic feasibility report by the City Council's technical staff, starting with the most scored and up to the maximum authorized spending limit. If any of the proposals are not technically viable, “it will be included in another list and the next most voted on the final prioritization list will be selected.”

Finally, the proposals approved by the Self-Regulation will be submitted to the Mayor's Office for processing, taking into account the order of priority resulting from the selection process, executing in the budgeted year those works that do not require a public competition or specific technical project or to be submitted to public exhibition.