All Rules regarding petitions are set out in Council Procedure Rule 27, Part 4.1 of the Constitution. A summary of these rules is set out below:
- Petitions must bear 20 or more signatures from residents of Hertsmere or those who pay business rates to Hertsmere.
- If there are less than 20 signatures, this will be treated as a letter of representation and the relevant Cabinet Member or Chair and Vice-Chair of the relevant committee will be advised of receipt. The matter will be dealt with by Officers.
- All petitions must be relevant to some matter in relation to which Hertsmere has powers or duties or which affects Hertsmere.
How will my petition be dealt with?
- The Chief Executive or Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services shall be responsible for the receipt of all petitions addressed to Hertsmere and for ensuring compliance with these procedure rules.
- The Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services will pass the petition to the relevant Cabinet Member or Chair of the relevant committee and relevant Officers and invite the lead petitioner to meet with them.
- Where the subject of the petition relates to a particular Ward, the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services will copy it also to the relevant Ward Councillors, who will be invited to the meeting referred to above.
What if I am not satisfied with the outcome of my Petition meeting?
- If the lead petitioner is not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and the matter is not wholly delegated to an Cabinet Member, the lead petitioner will be invited to attend the next convenient meeting of the Cabinet or the appropriate committee to make a personal presentation lasting up to five minutes.
- Such consideration of petitions which have been the subject of a personal presentation will take place at the next ordinary scheduled meeting of the Cabinet or appropriate committee and not at the meeting at which the presentation is made, unless a report containing all relevant information has been included within the agenda papers for the meeting. However, the hearing of any personal presentation shall not delay the implementation of any decisions which have already received formal approval by the Council, a committee or the Cabinet.
- Personal presentations of petitions shall not be made at meetings of Full Council.
Please Note:
Where representations are received in respect of specific planning applications or applications for alcohol and entertainment and gambling licences and these are in the form of “petitions”, they shall be treated as “letters of representation” for the purposes of this Procedure Rule and the procedures relating to letters of representation shall apply.
As per Council Procedure Rule 26 which relates specifically to representations made by those with a prejudicial interest about planning applications:
- Where representations are received in respect of specific planning applications and these are in the form of petitions, they shall be treated as letters of representation for the purposes of this Standing Order and the procedures relating to letters of representation shall apply.
- The only representations allowed at Planning Committee are those by registered speakers and Community Advocates. The process is outlined in this Procedure Rule, on page 3 of all Hertsmere Planning agendas and on our webpage Speaking at Planning Committee.
Suspension or Amendment of Council Procedure Rules
Suspension
All of these Council Procedure Rules may be suspended by motion on notice or without notice if at least one half of the whole number of Members of the Council are present, except where these rules or statute provide otherwise. Suspension can only be for the duration of the meeting.
Amendment
Any motion to add to, vary or revoke these Council Procedure Rules will, when proposed and seconded, stand adjourned without discussion to the next ordinary meeting of the Council unless included in the agenda papers for that Council meeting.
