The deadline for submitting proposals for Benidorm's Participatory Budget for 2026 is now open

Benidorm City Council, through the Department of Citizenship Participation, has opened the period to submit proposals for evaluation and possible inclusion in the municipal investment for the 2026 Participatory Budget. Councillor for Citizenship Participation, Ana Pellicer, explained that this period for submitting initiatives "will remain open until 11:59 p.m. on July 31st" and invited citizens to "participate, sending their ideas and contributions so that, together, we can make Benidorm a better city."

Ana Pellicer indicated that, as on previous occasions, all residents registered in Benidorm over the age of 18 are welcome to participate in this process, "being able to express what actions they consider could be positive for the city in general or to improve more specific and local aspects, such as services, amenities, or the image of their street, neighborhood, or the areas they visit regularly."

"We're talking about a powerful participation tool, which gives residents a voice and decision-making power, since at least 5% of the amount reserved for investments in the City Council's budget will be allocated to actions or projects proposed by citizens," said the councilor, who also noted that this decision-making by residents about what they want in their city "is something that has been happening since the 2016 budget and has resulted in numerous projects from which many citizens have been benefiting." Among them, "the footbridge that connects Els Tolls with Palau d'Esports, the roundabout on Avenida Ricardo Bayona, the renovation of the old road workers' house on Via Emilio Ortuño, and the new park located on Avenida Marina Alta," she listed.

Likewise, the head of Citizenship Participation encouraged citizens "to take part in this process, either by submitting proposals or by participating in the subsequent vote to choose which actions are necessary or of priority, and thus help us decide how the Benidorm we want should be."

The Self-Regulations for the Participatory Budget for 2026 stipulate that proposals will preferably be divided into five major areas or blocks. The first covers Urban Planning, Urban Scene, and Mobility. The second covers Equality, Social Welfare, Healthcare, and Senior Citizens. The third block covers Tourism, Beaches, and Citizen Security. The fourth includes proposals related to Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports, while the last includes actions related to Environment and Street Cleaning.

How to submit proposals

Each citizen may submit as many proposals as they wish and attach two images or a short video of about 30 seconds in duration to expand on the content of their proposals. The initiatives should be submitted in writing at the General Registry of the Town Hall, located on the ground floor, from Monday to Friday, between 09:00 and 14:00 hours; via electronic registration or by sending an email to consejovecinal@benidorm.org, addressed to the Department of Citizen Participation, indicating the name of the proposer, ID number, age, gender, address, phone number or contact email address, and whether they belong to any citizen or sectoral group, the title of the proposal, and its description.

The form and all the details of this process can be found at https://benidorm.org/es/ayuntamiento/concejalias/participacion-ciudadana, accessing the Participatory Budgets section.

Once all the proposals have been collected, the process will consist of two phases: an initial online phase and a second in-person phase. The online phase will include the presentation and voting on investment proposals, and the voluntary nomination of anyone wishing to participate in the in-person phase. The in-person phase will then include the counting of votes; the election of a maximum of two people from among the nominees plus two alternates, who will serve on the Participatory Budget Committee; and the convening of this Participatory Budget Committee to channel the proposals, effectively review their implementation, and identify positive and negative aspects of the process.

The period for electronic voting on the submitted proposals, a list of which will be available on the City Council website, will open on August 7, 2025, and close on September 30, 2025. Voting will only be conducted in the affirmative to assess the acceptance of the different proposals by the participants, and not in the negative to rule them out. In this way, a list of proposals will be compiled in order of preference of the participants based on the electronic votes, which will then be included in the list of proposals for the Participatory Budget Commission.

After the votes, a technical committee will be responsible for evaluating and prioritising the actions based on the distributive justice criteria set out in the guidelines. Priority will be given to actions that contribute to meeting the basic needs of the population (water, electricity, security, education, civic coexistence, etc.). that help reduce social inequality (gender, income, ethnicity, or due to physical or mental disability); those that meet environmental sustainability criteria (using nearby, renewable, decentralized, and self-sufficient resources); or those that benefit a larger percentage of the population.

These proposals will subsequently be subject to a technical and economic feasibility report by the City Council's technical staff, starting with the highest-scoring proposal and up to the maximum authorised expenditure limit. If any of the proposals is not technically feasible, "it will be included in another list, and the next highest-scoring proposal will be selected from the final prioritisation list."

Finally, the proposals approved by the Self-Regulations will be submitted to the Mayor's Office for processing, according to the order of priority resulting from the selection process. Those works that do not require a public tender or specific technical project, or public display, will be executed during the budgeted year.