‘Mum, you look like a poodle,' was apparently the comment of a four-year-old Simon Cowell on his mother's new hat.

Perhaps this was an early indicator of his propensity to share his unique opinions of those around him and his future career as an X Factor judge.

But the views of the judges are by no means the most important in deciding the fate of the latest wannabes – it's the audience vote, viewing figures and record-buying power which really drive the final results.

The Government is aware of the power of the voting public and the potential for a more ‘pop' – read populist – approach to decision-making.

In the recent drive towards localism, and democratisation of services, we are starting to test new ground. Blogging, tweeting, and wikis have overturned the old masters of the media world. Could the same thing happen in the public sector?

At Lambeth, we are trialling an extension to the tried-and-tested approach to budget consultation, where traditional research techniques are used to ask local residents where discretionary budget should be allocated.

Under ‘participatory budgeting' community-friendly schemes have been shortlisted and put to the public vote. While ‘contestants' for the maximum £125,000 ‘prize' promote their ‘X Factor' via online YouTube videos.

Unlike the drama provided by the X Factor judges – each backing their own horse, so to speak – impartiality and equity are the name of the game here. Qualification rounds for the shortlisted projects were, therefore, rigorously scrutinised to provide a balance of services and geographical areas.

As we all know, you can't keep all the people happy all of the time. But the key indicator of success here isn't dependent on the winning project, but the number of people we can actively engage in local decision-making – this case, more than 3,500, at the final count.
Mike Suarez is director of finance at Lambeth LBC