Petitions and Local Councils

Petitioning leaders for redress was an ancient right of subjects in imperial China: commonly the complaint would be of a breach of village regulations or of corruption.

This is from the Times article of December 27th last year foretelling a new Government policy.

Now there's been a new White Paper published about something they choose to call "Community Empowerment" and comments have been in the press here and here and in many other places. There is a suggestion here that local councils will have to respond to petitions from communities. What kind of response is considered adequate is not clear.

I have only once been involved in helping to organise a petition. It was on the subject of Blacka Moor and was conducted in summer 2005. The process of presenting the petition was something of an education. Despite the large number of signatures and the excellent case made it was brushed aside by the senior council member responsible (a certain Harry Harpham). When we challenged him afterwards in some astonishment he remarked that he had organised petitions himself and they meant nothing. He seemed to be saying that councillors like him persuaded others to sign a petition on the basis of him signing theirs later on. Our petition by the way could not have been more different: nobody was canvassed - the forms were left at key points on Blacka. 761 people signed. In the light of Harry Harpham's remarks it's worthwhile reading the comment at the very bottom of the Times article from a Sheffield resident.