The Government is currently consulting on how petitions should work with local government.
As Lib Dems, much of our campaigning revolves around petitioning as a means of finding people with common cause with us. We’re bound to have views on what should happen as a result of petitions. Should they be binding on councils if you can rabble rouse to a significant degree? Would they be a tool of tyrants unaware of the bigger picture?
In particular, many of us in local government are waiting with bated breath (well almost) to see how the Government will get themselves out of the mess they have created for themselves by creating a “Community call for action” in a crime and disorder bill whilst simultaneously creating a contradictory framework called “Councillor call for action” in the tortuously named Local Government and Involvement in Public Health bill.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Let the Government know by emailing [email protected]
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One Comment
Here in Kingston we pioneered online petitions, built upon a well established petitioning process. Amazingly there are still a lot of Councils around the country who do not permit petitions at all! (I hope none are Lib Dem controlled)
I am convinced that all citizens should be able to petition their local councils and that all councils should be required to have in place a robust and transparent process for dealing with them.
BUT no petition should ever be binding, however many signatures it gathers. Many petitions are based on an inadequate understanding both of the issue and of the constraints that might affect a solution. And, of course, by their very nature they only represent one point of view.
In fact, it is highly dangerous to make petitions binding because that would mean that the loudest and best organised groups would get their way, irrespective of how their demands might impact on everyone else, especially on the vulnerable.
In Kingston we find that petitions often bring a concern to the attention of the council. The petitioner can speak to the petition when it is presented and can join in the discussion when it is considered by a committee. By that time they have usually been drawn into a discussion or working group for more intense work on the problem – this is a deliberative approach in which the petitioner helps to find the solution.
Now I know I am seeing this from the point of view of controlling a council, but I think it is equally valid for councillors in opposition, or for local campaigns by activists.