Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services that provided an update on the current situation regarding various petitions received by the Authority (for copy see file of minutes).

The Senior Committee Services Officer reported that since the last update, 5 new paper petitions had been received, and 8 petitions had completed the process. 4 new e-petitions had been submitted and currently there was 1 live e-petition on the council’s website collecting signatures relating to Save Startforth School that would run until 23 June with the final numbers being passed to the service as part of a consultation.

Councillor J Robinson referred to e-petitions that did not qualify under the Councils petition scheme. He previously suggested that the criteria be reviewed to determine if the scheme was user-friendly and asked if the procedure was on the Council’s website. The Senior Committee Services Officer confirmed that all the information was available on the Councils website and explained that petitions that were the same or similar to a petition considered by the Council within a 12 month period would not be accepted and the reason would be explained to the petitioner in the acknowledgement of the petition.

Resolved:

That the information contained in the report be noted.