Petition Scheme

Speech by Cllr Jean Fooks delivered to County Council on Tue 15th Jun 2010

The new petition scheme is an important opportunity for members of the public to raise issues with the Council.

We agree that a minimum of 10 signatures is appropriate for "ordinary" petitions - those that then go direct to Cabinet members to consider.

But to require 15,995 signatures to trigger a debate at full council is ridiculous. The Government has set a maximum of 5% of the population, which in Oxfordshire is nearly 32,000. But they also say that the level should be set at a place that encourages petitions, not discourages them. We should set a figure that is achievable for a group of residents with a particular concern - not so high that it will never be reached! The Conservative suggestion of nearly 16,000 is set to avoid such a debate.

To suggest that "only" nearly 8,000 signatures is reasonable for a local matter is even more ludicrous. This is more than the number of people voting in one division in the local elections!

To call an officer to account is hopefully rare, but to require 4,000 signatures, or 2,000 for 2 divisions, is still excessive.

We propose that a threshold of 500 signatures would be appropriate in each of these cases.