Residents "Silenced" by Tory Petition Ban (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Residents "Silenced" by Tory Petition Ban

May 23, 2010 2:23 PM

Fiona Whelan has accused the tories on the county council of attempting to silence the population with their petition plans

Cambridgeshire Tories have been accused of "silencing" a great swathe of the county after banning petitions carrying less than 15,000 signatures for full council debate.

The figure is 5,000 more than required by the 10 Downing Street website and has caused fury among opposition Lib Dem councillors.

They wanted the figure brought down to just 1,500 signatures to give people a fair chance to have their say, even if they came from the smallest communities, in a debate that would take up no more than 15 minutes of council time.

Lib Dem leader, Fiona Whelan said: "This is a ludicrous, unachievable figure for many people living in the smaller villages in our county. Some of these villages don't have anywhere near this number of people. By taking this decision, the Tories have virtually silenced a great swathe of the population.

"We live in a democracy and people should have a chance to speak up if they are not happy about certain issues; the Tories have clearly made the decision that, in the main, residents' views are irrelevant."

Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Sarah Whitebread said: "I found it staggering that during the council debate on this issue, not a single Conservative councillor tried to defend the 15,000 figure as achievable. They all admitted it was not achievable, but seemed to be saying this was OK, because we don't need to debate petitions. What an outrageous attitude from a party that is supposedly in favour of giving power back to local communities."

By contrast, Cambridge City Council has decided that a petition needs just 500 signatures to go before the full council for debate.

Sian Reid said: "We believe petitions are crucially important. They allow people to let us know their concerns and we feel it is vital that as many as possible are debated fully by all our members.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for residents to engage with their local councillors and we welcome open, transparent debate."