Required signatures to trigger council debate on key issues by public in Peterborough set to be raised

Peterborough City Council is considering changes that would make it harder for public petition to be debated by full council.

At present, any petition, created on the council website, is eligible to be discussed at a meeting of the Full Council, Cabinet or Scrutiny Committee, as long as it is related to a matter on which the council can take action.

New proposals have been drawn up by the council’s Constitution and Ethics Committee, however, which would see the number needed to trigger a debate by full council upped to 1000.

Under proposed plans, a petition of between 40-499 names would receive a response from the relevant service area.

500 signatures or more – the petition would be eligible for submission to the next available Cabinet or Scrutiny Committee meeting.

While it would take 1000 signatures to be presented to the next full council meeting.

A time limit of 45 minutes is set on the discussion of petitions. The lead petitioner, or their representative, will have five minutes to present their petition to the meeting to begin the debate.

At the end of this period, the council will move immediately to the remaining votes without debate.

The proposed changes will be discussed at the council’s Constitution and Ethics Committee on Monday (April 25).