We’ve all signed a petition at some point in our lives (some of us more than others), but have you ever been left wondering whether it’s taken seriously or whether it actually makes a difference?
A commitment to improve local democracy in the way the Isle of Wight Council (IWC) deals with petitions will be discussed tomorrow night.
Councillors at the full council meeting will consider new plans to to join a petition scheme.
The change in policy will ensure that the IWC meet requirements of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.
So what will change?
Amongst some of the changes being included in the new scheme are
- Petition signatories are not limited to those on the electoral roll – they can be signed by anyone who lives, works or studies in the local authority area, including under 18s.
- Petitions with a significant level of support will trigger a debate of full council. Councils should determine their own threshold but it must be no higher than 5% of the local population (based on the Office of National Statistics’ population estimates).
- Petitions with a requisite level of support (threshold to be set by councils) will trigger a senior officer to give evidence to an Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting.
Chris Mathews, IW Council Head of Democratic Services said the new Petition Scheme aimed to enshrine in the council’s constitution clear procedures to deal with petitions.
He said: “While the council has operated its own petitions scheme it is nevertheless happy to develop this further in accordance with the Act that is designed to improve local democracy.
“The Act says a larger petition can be defined as one signed by up to five percent of the population – in the Island’s case over 7,000 people. This proposed scheme has reduced that upper threshold to 2,500 in order to give a greater opportunity for issues of concern to be considered.”
See IWC Report on new Petition Scheme (PDF)
Image: I Don’t Know, Maybe under CC BY 2.0
