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E-petitions live - our e-petitions service is
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petitions to Suffolk Coastal District
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Suffolk Coastal's petitions scheme
Suffolk Coastal welcomes petitions and recognises that petitions
are one way in which people can let us know their concerns.
On 28 May 2010 the Council adopted a petitions scheme which
details how we will acknowledge and respond to petitions:
Our petitions scheme in brief
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.
- Petitions with 50 or more signatures will be treated as
'active' petitions under our petitions scheme.
- If your petition contains at least 600 signatures, the relevant
senior officer will give evidence at a meeting of the Council’s
relevant scrutiny committee (committees of councillors who are
responsible for scrutinising the work of the Council).
- Petitions which contain 1,200 signatures or more will be
debated by the Full Council.
A signature only counts if the petition gives the
signatory’s name and address and the signatory lives, works or
studies in the Suffolk Coastal district.
All 'active' petitions sent to the Council will receive an
acknowledgement within 10 working days which will set out what we
plan to do with the petition and when you can expect to hear from
us again.
We will
publish details of any 'active' petitions we
receive on our website. This will include a summary of the
subject of each petition and give the number of signatures but
will not list those who have signed it. We will also outline the
steps we have taken in response to the petition.
Petitions with less than 50 signatures will be treated in
accordance with our
compliments and complaints procedure. If they
relate to specific ward issues they may also be passed to the
relevant ward councillors and town/parish council for
their consideration.
Guidelines for submitting a petition
Active petitions submitted to the Council must include:
- A clear and concise statement covering the subject of the
petition and stating 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.
Paper petitions can be sent to:
Democratic Services
Suffolk Coastal District Council,
Melton Hill,
Woodbridge IP12 1AU.
How will the Council respond to active 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:
- Giving effect to the request in the petition.
- Considering the petition at a meeting of the Council.
- Holding an inquiry.
- Holding a public meeting.
- Commissioning research.
- Giving a written response to the petition organiser setting out
the Council’s views about the request in the petition.
- Referring the petition to a scrutiny committee.
In addition to these steps, we will consider all the specific
actions we can potentially take on the issues highlighted in a
petition.
If your petition is not about one of the things that the Council
is responsible (for example the local railway or hospital), or is
about something that a different council is responsible for, we
will consider how we can best respond to it. This might consist of
simply forwarding the petition to the other organisation. In any
event, we will always notify you of the action we have taken.
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, for example:
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. More about
the policy grounds for refusal of a petition can be found in the
full petitions scheme document.
What can I do if I'm unhappy with the Council's response to my
petition?
If you feel that the steps taken in response to your petition
are not adequate, the petition organiser has the right to request
that the Council’s relevant scrutiny committee reviews the steps
that we have taken in response to your
petition.