News

Putting Power into Petitioning

2nd December 2009

Local people will be able to demand their councils take action on under-performing schools and hospitals, alcohol disorder, anti-social behaviour and other concerns under new proposals to give real teeth to local petitions, announced Communities Secretary John Denham today.

For the first time councils will be expected to respond to petitions and tell residents what action is going to be taken to address their concerns. No council will be able to ignore a petition or leave it on the shelf because it raises a difficult or challenging issue in the local area. Today's proposals are the next steps in the Government's drive to ensure problems are solved and residents receive the high quality local services they are entitled to.

New guidance published today for consultation sets out how councils should respond to all petitions, especially on four key areas.

On under-performing schools - councils should consider the most effective action, including issuing a warning notice to immediately improve standards and could appoint more governors, remove budgets or ultimately consider closure if they fail to comply.
On alcohol related crime and disorder - in areas blighted by alcohol fuelled disorder, councils should consider making it an offence to refuse to stop drinking when asked by police, or to charge licensed premises for additional policing.
On under-performing hospitals - where communities are concerned about issues like poor hygiene, councils should consider asking their scrutiny committee to investigate, which has powers to review services, request information from NHS bodies, and make urgent recommendations.
On anti-social behaviour - councils will be expected to consider using the wide range of powers available to them and to work with police on actions such as setting response times for complaints about noise or neighbours.

Source www.communities.gov.uk