YouDecide Tenant Fund – Year 1 Update
Renfrewshire Council · 19 May 2026
Back to Communities and Housing Policy Board — 19 May 2026 and its agenda
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Communities and Housing Policy Board On: 19th May 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Environment, Housing and Infrastructure ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: YouDecide Tenant Fund – Year 1 Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The participatory budgeting Tenant Fund was established as part of the 2025/26 to 2027/28 Housing Revenue Account budget which was approved by the Council in February 2025, where it was agreed that a £600,000 YouDecide Tenant Fund should be established for tenants to decide how this budget is best spent over the three-year period. 1.2 Details of the YouDecide Tenant Fund were presented to the Policy Board in May 2025, and it was agreed an annual update would be provided to the Board. This report provides members with information relating to year one of the YouDecide Tenant Fund, where £150,000 was made available across the four Local Housing Areas. 1.3 The report details the stages involved in year one of this fund, how it was publicised, details of the project ideas submitted and provides more information on what projects have been successfully voted for by Council tenants for implementation. 1.4 The report also outlines the proposed timeline for delivery of Year 2 of the programme where a further £250,000 is being made available across the four Local Housing Areas. ___________________________________________________________________
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PUBLIC 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Communities and Housing Policy Board: 2.1 Note the content of the report in Section 4 in relation to year one of the YouDecide Tenant Fund. 2.2 Note the timeline proposed in Section 6 of this report for the various stages within Year 2 of the YouDecide Tenant Fund. ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1 From a standing start, officers worked across Council services and with Cosla representatives to design and deliver a comprehensive programme of marketing material to promote the YouDecide Tenant fund. This included posters, leaflets and a YouTube information clip along with social media activity and training events for staff and elected members. Information events for tenants and residents were delivered within various community locations, including 10 of the 12 Renfrewshire libraries, 2 events in Gallowhill and numerous events across the Council’s sheltered complexes and multi storey blocks. 3.2 With assistance from Cosla, the Consul platform was developed to provide Renfrewshire Council with their own Participatory Budgeting platform that improves transparency and builds trust through clear communication of the project outcomes and next steps. A dedicated page on the Council’s website was also created to provide further information and a link to the Consul site. 3.3 The YouDecide tenant team pre-registered all Council tenants and issued a letter to their home address with a dedicated username and password for them to access the online portal. All elected members and a number of officers across Housing Services were also pre-registered to allow them to participate and assist residents as necessary. These logins remain effective and can be used throughout years one to three of this initiative. Any new tenancies commenced since year one logins were created, have been issued with a dedicated log in, similarly tenancies ended have had their accounts disabled and tenants who have moved from one Local Housing Area to another have had their account amended to allow them to participate in the area they now live within. 3.4 In recognition that not all tenants and residents are digitally enabled and to increase participation and awareness of the Participatory Budgeting (PB) programme, further processes were established to ensure support was in place for those who required additional assistance. This included in person help to complete online submissions or checking and completing the paper forms for input into the system. The information was also made available in other languages on request.
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PUBLIC 4. Year One Overview 4.1 Each of the four Local Housing areas were allocated an equal split of the £150,000 made available for year one projects. The project submission phase opened on 10th November 2025 for six weeks. Posters and leaflets were delivered to each local housing team and YouDecide officers carried out a full week of events across Renfrewshire libraries to increase project awareness. Officers across Housing Services, including the activity coordinators in the sheltered housing complexes and multi storey blocks, further assisted this awareness raising, supporting tenants to have a stronger sense of ownership and see local empowerment in action until the submission phase closed on 21st December 2025. 4.2 A total of 72 project ideas were submitted during the submission window. 30 of these met the essential criteria and went through to the tenant vote stage of the process when tenants were then able to vote for their favourite projects between 16th February and 15th March 2026. 4.3 This vote was only open to Council tenants who could use their voting power within their local housing area, up to the value of £37,500. The dedicated email mailbox handled direct enquiries in relation to the YouDecide Tenants project including the reissuing of tenant log in details where they had been misplaced or a reminder was required to allow tenants to vote. 4.4 To encourage tenants to vote, further events took place across Renfrewshire libraries and within multi storey blocks and sheltered complexes. Monitoring information from the Council’s web page shows that from creation in mid-2025 up to 15th March 2026, 629 users viewed the page with 518 of those classed as active users, meaning some users viewed the page multiple times. 4.5 The list below highlights the general content of the projects submitted for consideration in year one: • Waste and Bin Management: Statements proposed creating new, designated storage areas and upgrading existing bin sheds to improve accessibility, tidiness, and overall waste management for communal areas. • Internal Communal Area Maintenance: Statements regarding internal communal areas called for comprehensive cleaning and painting of closes to improve liveability. The conversation also focused on safety and security enhancements, such as installing stair grippers and upgrading entry doors, while highlighting significant difficulties in carrying out repairs within mixed-tenure buildings. • External Maintenance and Landscaping: The discussion on external maintenance and landscaping centered on improving the visual appeal and usability of garden areas and improving them with new plants and upgraded amenities to create more pleasant and functional outdoor spaces.
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PUBLIC • Parking and Vehicle Access: The conversation about parking and vehicle access focused on strategies to increase the number of available spaces by converting underused land. Statements also suggested improving the management of existing car parks with clearer line markings and signage. • Paths and Pedestrian Access: Statements on paths and pedestrian access identified safety and accessibility issues, including some surfaces in disrepair. The conversation proposed creating new paths and repairing existing ones to ensure safe passage for residents, particularly children, the elderly, and wheelchair users. • Community Amenities: The discussion on community amenities centered on enhancing shared spaces to improve social connection and practicality. Statements proposed upgrading outdoor social areas with new seating, creating accessible community spaces, and adding aesthetic features like art displays and seasonal decorations. 4.6 Following a successful voting stage, 16 of the 30 projects were voted in by Council tenants for delivery throughout 2026. This includes: • Seven projects which involve improvements to existing bin areas or an upgrade to include new designated bin areas to improve waste management and disposal. Some of these projects also include changes to the existing bin types and schedules in consultation with Waste Services. • Three projects will see improvements to communal closes. This includes a full industrial clean and fresh painting where necessary. • Four projects focus on improvements to communal gardens and outdoor areas. This includes creating patio areas for seating, planters and accessible pathways to garden areas. • One project will improve car parking arrangements with the space lining of three car parking areas which are held on the Housing Revenue Account. • One project will provide a community notice board on housing land which will be managed by the local tenants and residents’ association, in conjunction with the local primary school. 4.7 It is envisaged that the request for quote process for projects under £25,000 will be followed as far as possible to source local suppliers for the delivery of the small works projects voted in for year one. In preparation of this, the YouDecide team attended a recent CPU organised supply chain event which was well attended and provided the opportunity for local suppliers to hear about the programme and the work opportunities that could arise from it. All winning projects for year one will be delivered throughout 2026 with promotion of these works used to highlight delivery progress and increase year 2 tenant engagement.
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PUBLIC 4.8 The 14 projects that met the criteria but were not voted for by tenants in year one of the fund can be resubmitted for year two. The submitter has the option to update, amend and split larger project ideas into smaller submissions if they feel this may be more beneficial in year two of the voting process. The YouDecide team will reach out to these tenants/residents to discuss their options in this regard. 4.9 The YouDecide Tenant Fund year one also received 42 submissions that did not meet the essential criteria. Examples of this were matters for routine repairs and other areas of Environment and Infrastructure that have been assigned to those service areas to attend to. 5. Year 1 Review 5.1 As this is a wholly new programme and way of delivering small scale investment and improvement projects for our tenants, a review of the first year, including a ‘lessons learned’ exercise will be undertaken by officers. Input to this process will be sought from both elected members and tenant representatives to look back at year one and understand what worked well and what could be done differently as we embark on year two of the programme. 5.2 In reviewing the first year of the programme, feedback will be sought to identify ways of encouraging more tenant participation in year two. It is anticipated that once some year one projects have been delivered, these can be used as examples to promote the programme, demonstrating the potential benefits within communities and giving tenants ideas for their own areas. 5.3 A review of the findings will be discussed with the Tenant Scrutiny Panel who have been instrumental in working with officers to ensure the programme is being delivered transparently and as envisaged at the outset. A similar ‘lessons learned’ exercise will be carried out again at the end of year two, to assess if any changes in our approach were successful and if further review is to be merited. 6. Year Two Timeline 6.1 Having established the processes from year one of the fund, it is anticipated that the second year could commence earlier with a longer project suggestion and voting period. To ensure further engagement and increased participation by tenants, officers will in addition to enhanced communication efforts, approach TRAs and other local community groups to increase the number and range of project ideas for Year 2 of the fund.
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PUBLIC 6.2 The indicative timeline for Year 2 of the fund is set out below: • Idea Submission period June – September for 12 weeks. • Review and costing phase September – November for 8 weeks. • Voting phase November to January 2027 for 8 weeks. • Voting review phase January 2027 for 2 weeks. • Winners announced at end of January 2027. • Project delivery from February 2027. 6.3 Further regular updates on the YouDecide programme will be provided to the board as part of the Service Update report, with an annual update provided in May 2027 for Year 2 of the fund. ___________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – Funding for the YouDecide Tenant Fund was agreed as part of the 2025/26 multi-year rent increase and totals £0.600m over the period 2025/26 to 2027/28 (£0.150m, £0.250m and £0.200m respectively). Expenditure will be recognised in the financial year in which projects are completed, with budget profiles reviewed and adjusted as required to reflect delivery, while remaining within the approved funding allocation. 2. HR & Organisational Development – None 3. Community/Council Planning – • Our Renfrewshire is fair - giving tenants the opportunity to highlight and vote for project ideas that will benefit the safety, security and enjoyability of HRA land and buildings in their area. • Reshaping our place, our economy and our future – Using participatory budgeting in this way gives the power to tenants to choose how they would like to see this fund spent. 4. Legal – There may be a requirement for some title checks to ensure the project submissions meet the essential criteria of being within HRA ownership. 5. Property/Assets – Projects approved for delivery will enhance the property or land surrounding it. 6. Information Technology – There was no requirement for Council ICT support with regard to the YouDecide Fund, however, there was a requirement in year one to establish the Consul website for Renfrewshire Councils use, this will continue into future years with other areas of the Council expected to also use and benefit from the Consul platform.
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PUBLIC 7. Equality & Human Rights - (a) The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required as implementation continues, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety - None 9. Procurement – The projects voted for by tenants will be taken through the Request for quote process where each project is under £25,000. This process will as far as possible, look to source local suppliers for the delivery of the small works projects. In preparation of this, the YouDecide team attended a recent CPU organised supply chain event which was well attended and provided the opportunity for local suppliers to hear about the programme and the work opportunities that could arise from it. 10. Risk – There is a risk that the momentum and delivery of the identified projects gather increased support and desire from tenants to continue the participatory budgeting process beyond the 3 years approved for the project. 11. Privacy Impact – None. 12. Climate Risk – None. 13. Children’s Rights - None. 14. Cosla Policy Position – The YouDecide Tenants Participatory Budgeting project has been created and delivered with ongoing support and assistance from Cosla. ___________________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers (a) Background Paper 1 Report to Council, Housing Revenue Account Budget & Rent Levels 2025/26 to 2027/28 and Housing Capital Investment Plan 2025/26 to 2029/30, 27 February 2025. (b) Report titled Participatory Budgeting ‘Tenants Decide’ Fund to Communities and Housing Policy Board, 13 May 2025. The foregoing background papers will be retained within Housing Services for inspection by the public for the prescribed period of four years from the date of the meeting. The contact officer within the service is Jennifer Murdoch, jennifer.murdoch@renfrewshire.gov.uk ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Jennifer Murdoch Email: jennifer.murdoch@renfrewshire.gov.uk