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Petitions Scheme
The council welcomes petitions and recognises
that petitions are one way in which people can let us know their
concerns. All petitions sent or presented to the council will
receive an acknowledgement from the council within 10 working days
of receipt.
This acknowledgement will set out what we plan
to do with the petition. We will treat something as a petition if
it is identified as being a petition, or if it seems to us that it
is intended to be a petition.
Paper petitions can be sent to:
The Democratic Services Team Leader
Havant Borough Council
Civic Offices
Civic Centre Road
HAVANT
PO9 2AX
(Telephone enquiries to 023 9244 6230)
Petitions can also be presented to a meeting of the council.
These meetings take place approximately on an 8 weekly basis. Dates
and times can be found by clicking on the link below:
>>Council Meeting Timetable<<
If you would like to present your petition to
the council, or would like your councillor or someone else to
present it on your behalf, please contact the Democratic Services
Team Leader at least 10 working days before the meeting and they
will talk you through the process.
If your petition has received1500 signatures
or more it will also be scheduled for a council debate and if this
is the case we will let you know whether this will happen at the
same meeting or a later meeting of the council.
What are the guidelines for submitting a petition?
Petitions submitted to the council must
include:
• a clear and concise statement covering the
subject of the petition. It should state what action the
petitioners wish the council to take
• the name and address and signature of any
person supporting the petition.
Petitions should be accompanied by contact
details, including an address, for the petition
organiser. This is the person we will contact
to explain how we will respond to the petition.
The contact details of the petition organiser
will not be placed on the website. If the petition does not
identify a petition organiser, we will contact signatories to the
petition to agree who should act as the petition organiser.
Petitions which are considered to be
vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate will not be
accepted.
In the period immediately before an election
or referendum we may need to
deal with your petition differently – if this
is the case we will explain the reasons and discuss the revised
timescale which will apply.
If a petition does not follow the guidelines
set out above, the council may decide not to do anything further
with it. In that case, we will write to you to explain the
reasons.
What will the council do when it receives my petition?
An acknowledgement will be sent to the
petition organiser within 10 working days of receiving the
petition. It will let them know what we plan to do with the
petition and when they can expect to hear from us again. It will
also be published on our website.
If we can do what your petition asks for, the
acknowledgement may confirm that we have taken the action requested
and the petition will be closed. If the petition has enough
signatures to trigger a council debate, or a senior officer giving
evidence, then the acknowledgment will confirm this and tell you
when and where the meeting will take place. If the petition needs
more investigation, we will tell you the steps we plan to take.
If the petition applies to a planning or
licensing application, is a statutory petition (for example
requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor), or on a matter
where there is already an existing right of appeal, such as council
tax banding and non-domestic rates, other procedures apply. Further
information on all these procedures and how you can express your
views is available.
We will not take action on any petition which
we consider to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate and
will explain the reasons for this in our acknowledgement of the
petition.
To ensure that people know what we are doing
in response to the petitions we receive, the details of all the
petitions submitted to us will be published on our website, except
in cases where this would be inappropriate. Whenever possible we
will also publish all correspondence relating to the petition (all
personal details will be removed).
How will the council respond to petitions?
Our response to a petition will depend on what
a petition asks for and how many people have signed it, but may
include one or more of the following:
• taking the action requested in the
petition
• considering the petition at a council
meeting
• holding an inquiry into the matter
• undertaking research into the matter
• holding a public meeting
• holding a consultation
• holding a meeting with petitioners
• referring the petition for consideration by
one of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Boards.
• calling a referendum
• writing to the petition organiser setting
out our views about the request in the petition
Overview and Scrutiny Boards are committees of
councillors who are responsible for scrutinising the work of the
council – in other words, they have the power to hold the council’s
decision makers to account.
In addition to these steps, the council will
consider all the specific actions it can potentially take on the
issues highlighted in a petition. The table below gives some
examples:
Petition subject and appropriate steps
Anti-social behaviour (ASB)
As the elected representatives of your local
area and as licensing authority, the council has a significant role
to play in tackling anti-social behaviour.
When responding to petitions on ASB, we will
consider in consultation with our local partners, all the options
available to us including the range of powers and mechanisms we
have to intervene as part of our role within the ASB
legislation.
Other issues
If your petition is about something over which
the council has no direct control (for example the local railway or
hospital) we will consider making representations on behalf of the
community to the relevant body. The council works with a large
number of local partners and where possible will work with
these partners to respond to your petition. If we are not able to
do this for any reason (for example if what the petition calls for
conflicts with council policy), then we will set out the reasons
for this to you. You can find more information on the services for
which the council is responsible on the Councils web site.
If your petition is about something that a
different council is responsible for we will give consideration to
what the best method is for responding to it. This might consist of
simply forwarding the petition to the other council, but could
involve other steps. In any event we will always notify you of the
action we have taken.
Full council debates
If a petition contains more than 1,500
signatures it will be debated by the full council unless it is a
petition asking for a senior council officer to give evidence at a
public meeting (see below).
This means that the issue raised in the
petition will be discussed at a meeting which all councillors can
attend. The council will endeavour to consider the petition at its
next meeting, although on some occasions this may not be possible
and consideration will then take place at the following meeting.
The petition organiser will be given five minutes to present the
petition at the meeting and the petition will then be discussed by
councillors for a maximum of 15 minutes.
The council will decide how to respond to the
petition at this meeting. They may decide to take the action the
petition requests, not to take the action requested for reasons put
forward in the debate, or to commission further investigation into
the matter, for example by a relevant committee. Where the issue is
one on which the council executive are required to make the final
decision, the council will decide whether to make recommendations
to inform that decision. The petition organiser will receive
written confirmation of this decision. This confirmation will also
be published on our website.
Officer evidence
Your petition may ask for a senior council
officer to give evidence at a public meeting about something for
which the officer is responsible as part of their job. For example,
your petition may ask a senior council officer to explain progress
on an issue, or to explain the advice given to elected members to
enable them to make a particular decision.
If your petition contains at least 750
signatures, the relevant senior officer will give evidence at a
public meeting of one of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny
Boards. You should be aware that the Board may decide that it would
be more appropriate for another officer to give evidence instead of
any officer named in the petition– for instance if the named
officer has changed jobs. The Board may also decide to call the
relevant councillor to attend the meeting. Board members will ask
the questions at this meeting, but you will be able to suggest
questions to the chair of the committee by contacting the
Democratic Services Team Leader up to three working days before the
meeting.
What can I do if I feel my petition has not been dealt with
properly?
If you feel that we have not dealt with your
petition properly, the petition organiser has the right to request
that the council’s overview and scrutiny committee review the steps
that the council has taken in response to your petition. It is
helpful to everyone, and can improve the prospects for a review if
the petition organiser gives a short explanation of the reasons why
the council’s response is not considered to be adequate.
The committee will endeavour to consider your
request at its next meeting, although on some occasions this may
not be possible and consideration will take place at the following
meeting. Should the committee determine we have not dealt with your
petition adequately, it may use any of its powers to deal with the
matter. These powers include instigating an investigation, making
recommendations to the council executive and arranging for the
matter to be considered at a meeting of the full council.
Once the appeal has been considered the
petition organiser will be informed of the results within 5 working
days. The results of the review will also be published on our
website
Click on the link below to view the petitions flow diagram:
>>Petitions Flow
Diagram<<