Under the Local Government & Elections Act – passed by the Senedd in 2020 – local authorities are now legally required to set up a public petitions scheme from May 2022 (after the local elections).
At this week’s full council meeting, Bridgend Council’s Monitoring Officer presented the council’s new petitions policy for approval (pdf) – which was granted unanimously. You can watch the meeting here.
The petitions system at the Senedd has been one of its successes and seen a wide range of topics brought to the attention of MSs and, on occasion, debated in the Senedd itself.
The proposal for Bridgend will work similarly with a few key differences. The appendix (pdf) outlines how it would work in more detail.
How will Bridgend Council’s petition system work?
Based on the wording of the policy, the right to submit or sign a petition will be restricted to people who live, work or study in the county – but this includes under-18s.
Each petition would need to come with a short statement explaining the reasoning behind the petition and what actions the petitioners wish the council to take.
Petitions will have to relate to a subject that’s within the remit/authority of the council to be accepted, though BCBC’s Monitoring Officer will have general powers to decide whether a petition is admissible or not (the full list of reasons why a petition may be rejected is in the appendix on pages 4-5 – pdf).
Petitions will be accepted in paper form or via the council’s e-petition system (which I don’t think has been launched yet). E-petitions will be open for 30 days, but this period can be extended or shortened in consultation with the council.
In terms of signature thresholds:
- Fewer than 100 signatures will result in a response from the relevant council directorate.
- 100 or more signatures will result in a response from the relevant Cabinet Member.
- Petitions with more than 500 signatures will receive a response from the relevant Cabinet Member that will also be published on the BCBC website.
- Petitions that receive 750 or more signatures will trigger a full council debate – the next scheduled full council debate if possible.
New system “provides clarity”
The proposal was welcomed.
Cllr. Paul Davies (Lab, Caerau) welcome the clarity the new scheme brings. Cllr. Roz Stirman (Ind, Llangeinor) and Cllr. Sorrel Dendy (Ind, Blaengarw) questioned the need for people signing a petition to provide an address and were told it would be kept under review.
Cllr. Alex Williams (Ind, Penprysg) noted that the council’s petition system and established systems (like those at Change.org) don’t integrate – but the answer was too technical to be addressed in the meeting itself. It’s a bit unclear, therefore, whether a Change.org or similar petition would be accepted.
Following questioning by Cllr. Amanda Williams (Ind, Coity) it was confirmed that the council would accept petitions that are part-paper, part-online, which would be counted as a single petition.
Long overdue
Overall, this is a positive development and will hopefully lead to residents in Bridgend believing that if they raise concerns those concerns would be taken seriously and result in a response from the council of some kind. While public petitions have been submitted to the council in the past they’ve rarely gotten anywhere.
As for the possible flaws, it’s unclear (similar to the point about change.org and alike) whether the council would accept petitions re-directed to them from the Senedd if the Senedd’s Petitions Committee decides the petition is more within the council’s remit.
30 days also seems a fairly short period to leave e-petitions open – the maximum limit is six months at the Senedd. Three months/90 days might be a fair compromise. All of this can be kept under review, of course.
It’s also worth questioning whether decisions over whether a petition is admissible or not should be left to the Monitoring Officer alone instead of being referred to a council committee. Councillors should have a right to decide for themselves.
