Petition Policy

Horningsham Parish Council

Petitions

Introduction

This Council welcomes feedback from its parishioners. The preferred method is through direct contact either

• Face to face at the Council meetings
• Through contact with Councillors
• By phone to the Clerk on 01985 213436
• Or by e-mail – clerk@horningshamparishcouncil.gov.uk This allows the Council to answer your questions quickly, and if a policy decision needs to be made it will be placed on the appropriate agenda.

If a parishioner feels that their concerns have not been satisfactorily met there is a complaints procedure which is covered in a separate policy.

However the Council 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 within 10 working days. 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 such, or if it seems to us that it is intended to be a petition.

Paper petitions can be sent to:

Mrs Sarah Jeffries MILCM

Parish Clerk

Horningsham Parish Council

9 Beech Grove

Warminster

Witlshire

BA12 0AB

How the Council will accept 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.

·       The Council will take into account identifiable signatures of people who provide valid addresses, where they live, work or study in the area and may take into account other signatures.

·       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. 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.

What will the Council do when it receives any 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. Details of the petition will also be published on our website, although the contact details of the petition organiser will not be included.
• The petition will be placed on the Full Council agenda, and the petition organiser will be advised of this.

Full Council meeting procedure

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. The petition organiser will receive written confirmation of this decision.

If your petition is about something over which the Council has no direct control we will consider making representations on behalf of the community to the relevant body.

Review of Procedure

This procedure will be reviewed from time to time to ensure that it remains effective.