Appendix 3 - Scheme of Public Participation
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NB: This Scheme does not apply to a Meeting of the Overview
and Scrutiny Committee or its Sub-Committees as they have their own
arrangements for consulting with the public as detailed in the
Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, nor does it apply to
Meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee.
1. Introduction
The public has always had the right to attend meetings of the
Council and its Committees and Sub-Committees to listen to the
debate. However, to enhance the public’s ability to
contribute to the democratic process a comprehensive Public
Participation Scheme is in place. The Scheme is wide ranging
and successful and has in its various forms been in operation from
1995. To allow the Scheme to operate fairly and effectively
there are a few simple rules which should be followed. Set
out within this note are the details of how the scheme works in
practice and how the scheme is applied to Parish Councils and to
the public. The procedure note has been split into the
following sections:-
- General Rules Applicable to All Schemes (Para
2)
- Types of Public Participation (Para 3)
1.
Petitions (Para 3(a))
2. Questions (Para 3.2(b))
3. General Comments (Para 3(c))
- Procedure for speaking at meetings of the Planning Committee in
relation to Planning Applications (Para 4)
- Summary of Rights (Para 5)
- Administration of the Scheme (Para 6)
2. General Rules Applicable To All Schemes
(a) All requests to take part at
meetings, in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation
Scheme should be submitted in writing on the relevant form
available from the Proper Officer or separately in writing provided
that contact details and information about the nature of the
question, petition or comment is included. The Council’s
website also has a facility allowing the public to register to
speak on line.
(b) The following
written notice must be given in respect of the
scheme:-
(i) For Petitions, Questions and General Comments – 10.00 on
the day of the
meeting for meetings
commencing on or after 19.00 that day or by 10.00
on
the last working day before
the meeting date for meetings which commence
before 19.00.
(ii) For the Planning Committee by 15.00 two working days
before the meeting
(for example when the meeting
is held on a Wednesday the deadline would be
15.00 on the Monday).
(iii) The above deadlines do not apply in respect of urgent
items placed before
Committees in accordance with
Section 100b(4)(b) of the Local Government
Act 1972.
(iv)
Length of speech – in support of
petitions, questions and general
comments
- this will be a maximum of 3 minutes,
except with the Chairman’s
approval.
(v) The scheme does not allow the speaker to enter into any
debate.
(vi) In all cases the Chairman will determine the order in
which the petitions are
presented, questions asked or
comments made.
3. Types of Public Participation (Excluding the
Scheme as it applies to the Planning Committee in Relation to
Planning Applications)
(a) Petition Scheme for Ashford Borough
Council
A Introduction
A1 This is
the Petitions Scheme for Ashford Borough Council made under Section
11 (1) of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and
Construction Act 2009. (‘The Act’)
A2i
The Scheme was approved at the full meeting of the Ashford
Borough Council on 21st October 2010 and is available on
the Authority’s
website:- (www.ashford.gov.uk)
A3 The purpose of the Scheme is to establish a
clear process for petitions submitted to the Council to be handled
in accordance with the
legislation (Sections 10 – 22 of the Act).
It covers,
- how people who live, work or study in
the Authority’s area can organise or sign a petition and secure a
statutory response
- how specific responses can be triggered
by achieving prescribed levels of signatory support
- who will do what and to what
performance standards
- how petition organisers can seek a
review of the Council’s response
A4
The officer responsible for this Petitions Scheme, and its
operation is Keith Fearon, Member Services & Scrutiny Manager
whose contact
details are as follows:-.
Mr K Fearon, Member Services & Scrutiny Manager,
Ashford Borough Council, Civic Centre, Tannery Lane, Ashford, Kent,
TN23 1PL
Tel – 01233 330564
E-mail keith.fearon@ashford.gov.uk
A5
The Council will promote the Scheme, both within the public sector
organisations responsible for delivering local services and also
beyond
in the wider community.
B
About Petitions in Ashford
B1
The Council and its Partners recognise the need to help
citizens communicate their needs and concerns about issues in the
local area.
Petitions have a long tradition, and can be useful in
suggesting levels of support for various propositions, so the
Council will encourage
their use in appropriate circumstances, and will
offer advice to interested persons as to how best to make use of
this Scheme in order to
achieve their aims.
Such advice may be forthcoming from
different departments of the Council, but enquiries should, in the
first instance be directed to Keith
Fearon.
The Council will also
publish Guidelines for Petition Organisers – this should
include a list of ‘Council and Partner Functions’ to assist in
avoiding unnecessary submissions
B2
The Council places importance on the opportunity offered by
petitions, to seek solutions and agreements to issues identified by
Petition
Organisers. If this can be accomplished before the period set aside
for the petition, then the Council may seek agreement with the
Petition
Organiser to withdraw the relevant petition.
B3i
Petitions to this Authority should be about matters relating to one
of its functions. However, the Kent County Council will consider
Petitions
relating to improvements ‘in the economic, social or
environmental well-being of the area to which any of its partner
authorities could
contribute’ and its Scheme will specify which organisations
can be regarded as Partner Authorities for these purposes.
B3ii Potential Petition organisers who need advice as
to whether it would be appropriate to address a Petition to the
County Council will be
offered guidance. At first instance, the relevant contact point
should be the person specified in Paragraph A4
C Submission of
Petitions
C1 Petitions may be submitted to the
Authority in the following ways:-
- On paper
- In person
- Electronically, through the Council’s
own ePetition facility (after 15th December 2010)
In every case, a Petitions Organiser must identify his or her
self and provide such details as will assist the Council or other
service
providers to make contact to discuss the petition.
If the lead signatory wishes to relinquish their role then another
signatory can, and must, be elected as lead signatory
C2i
The Council will formally acknowledge and respond to such Petitions
as meet the criteria shown in Paragraph 3 of this Section.
C2ii For ePetitions, the Council will issue a formal
acknowledgement within 5 working days of its
initial submission. Note that during this
period, the ePetitions Facility Administrator will act as a
‘moderator’ and establish that there are no problems that might
prevent the system
from hosting the Petition. If there are difficulties, the
Administrator will contact the Petition Organiser and use their
best endeavours to
resolve matters so that the Petition can be open for signatures.
Where such a dialogue occurs, the formal acknowledgement will be
sent
within 5 working days of the resolution of the
difficulty.
C2iii For all
other Petitions, the Council will issue a formal acknowledgement
within 10 working days of its receipt.
C2iv In
all cases, formal acknowledgements will indicate how the Council
proposes to handle the issue, and where appropriate, to outline
what
it may be possible for the Authority to do in response
C3 To be a valid Petition, and trigger the
provisions of the statutory ‘duty to respond’, a Petition
must:‑
- Be initiated by Petition Organiser whose
details have been supplied to the Council
- Relates to the Council’s functions or to
wider issues applicable to the areas served by the County
Council
- Not be vexatious or abusive
- Not related to matters excluded from the
Scheme. These include any matter relating to individual planning or
licensing decisions, for which other established processes
exist.
- Obtain a minimum of 50 valid signatories,
including verifiable details that they live, work or study in the
Council area.
- Not be a duplicate or near-duplicate of a
similar petition received or submitted under 12 months ago
C4i To ensure the Council understands the level of
local support for a Petition, it reserves the right to seek to
verify each signature appended
to a Petition. This can be significant when establishing whether a
Petition has obtained the requisite number of signatures to trigger
specific
processes.
C4ii In the case of ePetitions, the Council requires
signatories to append their email addresses and their postcodes;
failure to provide this
information may lead to the signature not being counted.
C4iii Unless otherwise agreed following discussions with the
Petition Organiser, an ePetition will remain open for signatures
for 90 days.
C5 As each Petition is received or created online,
the Council will log each one, and publish details on its website.
For any Petition relating
specifically to a Council Ward or Wards, the relevant Elected
Member will be formally notified and asked for comments.
D Responding to
Petitions
D1 Upon receipt or submission, the Council
will assign the Petition to a Responding Officer, who will take
responsibility for investigating the
issue and advise on the action to be taken by the Authority.
The name of the Responding Officer will be notified to the
Petitions Organiser at the time of the acknowledgement.
D2 Among the actions the Council may
undertake are one or more of the following:-
- Taking the action requested in the
Petition
- Considering the Petition at a Council
Meeting
- Holding an Inquiry
- Commissioning relevant research
- Organising a public meeting
- Mounting a wider public consultation
- Meeting with the Petition Organiser or
representatives of signatories
- Providing a written response outlining the
Council’s views on the subject
- Referring the issue to the Council’s Overview
& Scrutiny Committee OR
- Referring the issue to the relevant
Committee
- Consulting statutory partners and local
service providers
- Instigating discussions with the voluntary
and community sectors
- Make representations to Commercial or other
Interests
D3 Under normal circumstances, the Council will
expect to provide the Petition organiser with a response detailing
which of the actions
specified in D2 or other initiatives it intends within 28 days of
receipt of a paper Petition. In the case of ePetitions which will
be expected to
remain open for some time, the response will be within 28 days of
the closing date for signatures, or a date requested by the
Petition
Organiser, whichever is the earlier
D4i If a Petition has, or acquires 1500 valid
signatures, the issue will be debated at a full Council Meeting to
which all elected members are
invited
D4ii At such a meeting, the Petition Organiser or
someone nominated on his or her behalf will have the right to speak
about the petition, normally
for up to 10 minutes; reasonable advance notice will be provided to
ensure that any preparation can be undertaken in time
D4iii The Chairman of the Meeting will decide upon the
amount of time to allow for the debate on the Petition, and will
take account of the degree
of public interest in the issue, the level of support given to the
Petition and the number of elected members wishing to express their
views
on the subject.
D4iv The
Council accepts that it will not normally be sufficient for such a
meeting merely to ‘take note’ of the Petition and that there should
be a
decision taken as to what other steps (including but not restricted
to the actions specified in Paragraph D2) should also be taken as
a
response.
D4v The Petitions Organiser will be formally notified of
the decision taken at the Council meeting. This will take place
within 5 working days.
D5i Petitions may request that a senior
Council Officer be required to appear and give evidence on an issue
for which he or she is
responsible. If such a Petition has, or acquires 750 valid
signatures, the Council will organise such a meeting, though it
reserves the right to
substitute a more appropriate person for the name referred to in
the Petition.
D5ii Those Officers who may be called to give
evidence in this way as a result of a Petition consist of the Chief
Executive, Deputy Chief
Executive and Heads of Service.
D5iii The Petition Organiser will be given reasonable
notice of the meeting, and although able to attend, will not
normally be able to participate in
the meeting. The meeting Chairperson will normally be prepared to
consider suggested lines of questioning from the Petition Organiser
or
signatories
D5iv If in
the opinion of the Council, an issue raised in a petition seeking
to call a Senior Officer to account would be better considered
through
the attendance of relevant Senior Officers from a Partner
Authority, the Council may, at its discretion request that such an
individual be
invited to give evidence to the Overview and Scrutiny
Committee.
D5v Following the meeting at which the Senior Officer
appears and gives evidence, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
will prepare a Report
and/or make recommendations. These will be sent to the Authority’s
Chief Executive and to the Leader of the Council, and a copy sent
to
the Petition Organiser. Unless the issue raises matters of
confidentiality, the Council will normally publish this document on
the Council’s
website.
D5vi References
to ‘threshold’ numbers of signatures in paragraphs C3, D4i and D5i
confer a clear entitlement under the provisions of this
Scheme. However, the Council accepts that there are situations
where issues may be of considerable significance to a small number
of
stakeholders, but where the absolute number of signatures for a
petition may be less appropriate a measure of relevant support.
In these circumstances the Scheme Administrator is authorised to
substitute for the thresholds in the paragraphs referred to
above,
revised numbers that take account of the specifics of the case.
When this occurs, the entitlements operate as for the rest of this
Scheme
D6i At the end of the process of considering the
Petition, a relevant Chief Officer will formally write to the
Petition Organiser with a formal
response. This communication will normally outline the steps taken
by the Council to consider the issue and will refer to the
involvement
(where applicable) of the Authority’s elected members.
In the case of an ePetition the response will be distributed by
email to all of the petition signees.
A copy of the response to all petitions will be posted to the
publicly accessible website and available to view for a period of 6
months from
closing the petition. For ePetitions this will include the names of
signees.
The letter will also identify the Responding Officer who handled
the issue and highlight his or her involvement where
appropriate.
This Formal Response will be despatched within 90 days of receipt
or submission of a Petition, and a copy will be published both on
the
Council website and easily accessible from the relevant pages of
the ePetitions facility
E Reviewing the
Results
E1 If a Petitions Organiser is not satisfied
with the Council’s response to the Petition, he or she may request
a Review
Such a request should be made in writing within 28 days of the
despatch of the Formal Response to the Petitions Organiser.
E2 Upon receipt of such a Request the Scheme
Administrator will identify a Reviewing Officer from among Senior
Officers at the Council. This
Officer will be given wide scope to reconsider whether the
Authority should, in all the circumstances take additional steps to
respond to
the Petition. This will normally include reference to the Overview
& Scrutiny Committee which will itself consider the adequacy of
the initial
response.
On some occasions, such as where the initial response took the form
of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee’s taking evidence from
a
Senior Officer, it may be inappropriate for the same Committee to
review the issue. In consultation with the Scheme Administrator,
the
Reviewing Officer will ensure that a suitable alternative process
is followed to engage elected members in reviewing the
Petition.
E3 At the end of the process of reviewing
the Petition, the Council’s Monitoring Officer will formally write
to the Petition Organiser to inform him
or her of the results of the Review. This communication will
normally outline the process followed to establish whether the
initial response
had been adequate and outline any additional steps taken by the
Council as part of the Review. It will also refer to the
involvement (where
applicable) of the Authority’s elected members.
The letter will also identify the Reviewing Officer who handled the
issue and highlight his or her involvement where appropriate.
This Review Response will be despatched within 28 days of receipt
or the request for Review, and a copy will be published both on
the
Council website and easily accessible from the relevant pages of
the ePetitions facility
(b) Questions
(i) Must
be from residents of the Borough.
(ii) Must
be relevant to the powers and duties of the Council, the Executive
or terms of reference of the relevant Committee or
Sub-Committee
(iii) Must
relate to an item on the Agenda.
(iv) Only
one person will be allowed to speak per item on the agenda.
(b) General
Comments.
(i) Must
relate to an item on the Agenda.
(ii) Not
normally more than two speakers will be allowed per agenda
item.
4. Procedure for Speaking at Meetings of the
Planning Committee in Relation to Planning
Applications
(a) Views to be confined to planning issues only. (An
information leaflet is available from the Proper Officer which may
help you to consider your comments).
(b) Questions may not be asked or
requests for site visits made or speeches made in support of
or against the making of Tree Preservation Orders or the taking of
Enforcement Action.
(c) No more than one person will be
allowed to speak in support or against an application, in addition
to the Parish Council’s views.
(d) The order of speakers will normally
be objector, supporter and where appropriate the Parish
Council.
(e) There is no requirement to hear both
sides’ views on the application.
5. Summary Of Rights
Petitions
- Members of the public and/or a duly authorised representative
of a Parish Council can submit or speak to a petition at meeting of
the Executive in relation to Executive functions or meetings of the
Council or any Committee in relation to Council functions.
Questions
- Members of the public and/or a duly
authorised representative of a Parish Council can ask a question at
meetings of the Executive, in relation to Executive functions or
meetings of the Council or any of its Committees or Sub-Committees
in relation to functions of the Council and which relates to an
item on the agenda for that meeting.
Comments
- Members of the public and/or a duly
authorised representative of a Parish Council can comment on items
on the Agenda for meetings of the Executive, in relation to
Executive functions or meetings of the Council or any of its
Committees and Sub-Committees.
Planning Applications
- Members of the public and/or a duly
authorised representative of a Parish Council may address the
Planning Committee or Full Council when considering Planning
Applications subject to the detailed rules as described in
Paragraph 4 above.
6. Administration Of The Scheme
The operation and administration of the scheme is
undertaken by the Proper Officer, (Democratic Services Manager),
Central Services Directorate, Civic Centre, Tannery Lane,
Ashford. Telephone 01233 330564 for further details about how
the Scheme operates, or for advice upon which is the most
appropriate Committee or Sub-Committee to deal with your
request.
Next - Appendix 4 - Rights of Access
to Meetings and Documents by Councillors
This webpage was updated on
2/14/2011