Public Set Ridiculous Barrier (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Public Set Ridiculous Barrier

June 15, 2010 12:00 AM

Lib Dem calls to set thresholds for petitions from members of the public at achievable levels were today turned down by the Conservatives and Labour Councillors at County Hall

All Councils have to decide on the numbers of signatures needed to trigger either a Council debate or a senior officer being called before a Scrutiny Committee to answer questions. The Conservative administration had proposed these levels be set at approximately 16,000 and 4,000 signatures respectively.

The Liberal Democrat opposition called for these levels to be significantly lower, at 500 each, to provide more chances for local people to get their concerns properly discussed.

Cllr Jean Fooks, moving the amendment, said: "Requiring 15,995 signatures to call a Council debate is ridiculous - how many petitions will get that? It's 2.5% of Oxfordshire's population. The Government said that the number of signatures should be set at a level to encourage rather than discourage petitions. Clearly the Conservatives and Labour do indeed want to discourage petitions; what are they afraid of?

"Whilst a petition is only one way of encouraging public participation, setting such a high barrier sends totally the wrong message to residents. They will look at this, and think - reasonably enough - that County Hall is just not interested in hearing from them."