Residents taking part in Soltau’s new participatory budgeting pilot have ten votes to distribute among five ideas for the town centre. Their choices determine which two projects are scheduled for delivery in 2027. By the time the public sees the ballot, however, the shortlist has already been set. That makes the pilot in Lower Saxony a useful case for any group that delegates spending decisions. How much power does the vote transfer when a different group sets the options? Soltau’s announcement of 2 November 2026.
How the Soltau pilot works
The steering group for Soltau’s resilient town-centre programme developed ten proposals. Municipal staff assessed whether they could be delivered and cleared five for the ballot. The choices are a water-mist installation for hot days, a drinking fountain, a factory-inspired play feature called the Sand Mill, a covered sandpit and an interactive station about the town’s salt-making history. For this pilot, residents decide between the prepared projects. Submitting their own ideas would be part of a possible permanent programme. The town’s list and rules.
Online voting opened at 5 p.m. local time on 2 November and closes at 11:59 p.m. on 20 December 2026. Each person can split their ten votes freely or give all ten to one project. The two highest-scoring projects are planned for 2027, with €20,000 available from the existing Resilient Town Centres grant programme and a €10,000 cap per project. A permanent, town-wide programme would require guidelines and a municipal budget allocation. Soltau says it could start in 2027 at the earliest, with delivery in 2028. The pilot and proposed expansion timeline.
Two places that bring residents in earlier
Eberswalde, also in Germany, allows residents aged 14 and over to submit proposals as well as vote. In its announcement ahead of the vote for the 2027 budget, the city said it had received 80 ideas and cleared 46 after checking municipal jurisdiction, feasibility and cost. The round had €100,000 available, and residents could cast five tokens online or in person. Giving residents the power to propose changes who can shape the initial list. The administration still has a defined role in checking which ideas qualify. Eberswalde’s participatory budgeting rules · 2027 budget announcement.
Porto Alegre adds a different form of participation. The Brazilian city reported 956 participants at the first of 23 plenaries in its current cycle, held on 3 November 2026. The meeting ranked four thematic investment priorities for 2027 and elected representatives to the participatory budgeting council. The priorities guide a subsequent investment process, and representatives carry the discussion forward. This gives participants a say at a different stage from Soltau’s choice between defined projects. Porto Alegre’s report on the first plenary.
What the public should be able to see after the vote
Soltau’s rule lets people express the strength of a preference. Imagine that one person gives all ten votes to the drinking fountain and ten others give it one vote each. Either group contributes the same number of votes to that option. Publishing the number of participants separately from the totals for each project helps readers understand what each figure measures.
- Before voting. Who proposed the ideas, what checks were applied and why did other proposals miss the shortlist?
- After counting. What is the ranking, how were the rules applied and how were any ties handled?
- During delivery. Who owns each project, what costs and milestones are public and when will residents hear about changes?
A neighbourhood association or a co-operative dividing a smaller budget can keep the same record. Groups that want to link a discussion, a decision and the work that follows can explore tools such as Deferendum.
After 20 December, two things are worth following in Soltau. The first is whether the selected projects make their way into the town centre in 2027. The second is what the town learns about opening a future round to proposals from residents.
Editorial illustrations.
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