Agenda item

Petition Scheme Review

Meeting of County Council, Thursday, 13th September, 2012 10.00 am (Item 157.)

Minutes:

(1) Mr A King proposed, Mr Homewood seconded, the recommendations below that the County Council be invited to approve the following recommendations from the Selection and Member Services Committee:

(a) Revisions to the Petition Scheme, together with the amendments and aspects to be retained, as set out below:

(i) There be no change to the details that must be included for a petition to be valid, other than that petitions should be signed by people who live, work or study in Kent (paragraphs 2(3) & (4) of the report refer);

(ii) Retention of timescale for processing and responding to petitions (paragraph 2(5) of the report refers);

(iii) Replacement of the current list of ways that the County Council will respond to petitions with the following wording (paragraphs 2(6) to (8) of the report refer):

“Each petition that does not have the required number of signatures to trigger a debate will receive a written response from the appropriate Cabinet Member(s), which will set out their views on the petition and what action, if any, will be taken.“

(iv) Retention of the provision to consider petitions on matters outside the County Council’s direct remit but over which it may have some influence (paragraph 2(9) of the report refers);

(v) Introduction of amended provisions for:

· Debates for those petitions that achieve 10,000 or more signatures to be considered at County Council;

· Debates for those petitions that achieve between 2,500 and 9,999 signatures to be considered at the appropriate Cabinet Committee;

· District/Borough specific petitions of 1,000 or more signatures to be considered at the most appropriate local level (usually by a Local Board, Locality Board or a Joint Transportation Board);

· Petitions that achieve up to 1,000 signatures to be referred to the appropriate Cabinet Member(s) for response, which may include a discussion at a Local Board, Locality Board or Joint Transportation Board (paragraphs 2(10) and (11) of the report refer),

(vi) Amendment of the time allocated to the lead petitioner and Cabinet Member to speak on the petition at County Council or Cabinet Committees debates to three minutes (paragraph 2(12) of the report refers);

(vii) Retention of the facility for e-petitions (paragraphs 2(13) and (14) of the report refer);

(viii) Removal of the requirement for an officer to give evidence at the Scrutiny Committee if a petition requesting this achieves a certain number of signatures (paragraph 2(15) of the report refers); and

(ix) Amendment of the process set out in the scheme for reviewing the way that a petition has been dealt with, to refer any requests to the Selection and Member Services Committee and the terms of reference of that Committee be amended accordingly (paragraphs 2(16) and (17) of the report refer).

(b) The Petition Scheme agreed by the County Council be reviewed by the Selection & Member Services Committee after 12 months.

(2) Mr Christie moved, Mrs Dean seconded an amendment to these recommendations that the Lead Petitioner and Cabinet Member should have up to 5 minutes to address the Council/Cabinet Committee on each petition. The mover and seconder of the original motion, Mr A King and Mr Homewood, agreed to this requested change to the recommendations.

(3) Mrs Dean proposed, Mr Chittenden seconded, an amendment to the recommendations as set out above in paragraph 1(a) and (b) as follows; it being noted that the third part of Mrs Dean’s original amendment in relation to the length of time allocated to the lead petitioner to address the meeting had already been accepted by the mover and seconder of the original motion earlier in the debate:

2. (a)(iii) insert the words "following discussion with the local Members(s)" after the words Cabinet Member(s)

2. (a)(v) first bullet point delete 10,000, insert 6,000;

second bullet point delete 9,999 insert 5,999; and

add the words "meeting in public" at the ends of both the third and the fourth bullet points

(4) Following a debate, the Chairman put to the vote the amendment as set out above, when the voting was as follows:

For (10)

Mr I Chittenden, Mr L Christie, Mr G Cowan, Mr D Daley, Mrs T Dean, Mrs E Green, Mr G Koowaree, Mr R Lees, Mr T Prater, Mr M Vye

Abstain (3)

Mr C Capon, Mr B Cope, Mr P Lake

Against (60)

Mrs A Allen, Mr R Bayford, Mr D Brazier, Mr R Brookbank, Mr R Bullock, Mr R Burgess, Miss S Carey, Mr P Carter, Mr N Chard, Mr A Chell, Mrs P Cole, Mr N Collor, Mr G Cooke, Mr H Craske, Mr A Crowther, Mr J Cubitt, Mrs V Dagger, Mr M Dance, Mr J Davies, Mr T Gates, Mr G Gibbens, Mr R Gough, Mr M Harrison, Mr W Hayton, Mr C Hibberd, Mr M Hill, Mr D Hirst, Ms A Hohler, Mrs S Hohler, Mr P Homewood, Mr E Hotson, Mr M Jarvis, Mr A King, Mr J Kirby, Mr J Kite, Mrs J Law, Mr J London, Mr R Long, Mr S Manion, Mr R Manning, Mr A Marsh, Mr M Northey, Mr J Ozog, Mr R Parry, Mr R Pascoe, Mr L Ridings, Mr A Sandhu, Mr J Scholes, Mr J Simmonds, Mr M Snelling, Mrs P Stockell, Mr B Sweetland, Mr R Tolputt, Mrs E Tweed, Mrs C Waters, Mr J Wedgbury, Mr M Whiting, Mrs J Whittle, Mr A Wickham, Mr A Willicombe

Lost

(5) Mr Christie moved, Mr Cowan seconded that a maximum of two petition debates be heard at any one meeting of the County Council or a Cabinet Committee. The mover and seconder of the original motion, Mr A King and Mr Homewood, agreed to this requested change to the recommendations.

(6) RESOLVED that the substantive recommendation be approved as follows: