Local Lib Dem Councillors Answer Labour Government Consultation

4.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 15th May 2008

Cllr Julie Morris (centre) and Diana Coman, Woodcote ward FOCUS editor (to her right) visited the DCLG in 2007 to hand in a petition against Back Garden Development

When the Labour Government asked local councils to send in their views on future procedures for petitions and "calls for action", Epsom's Lib Dem councillors were happy to give an opinion.

Information on the Consultation Paper from the Department for Communities and Local Government was sent to Epsom & Ewell Borough Council in January this year and asked for views on how councils could interact more widely with local residents. Views on how petitions could be submitted and how residents could "call for action" were sought.

As an example, one of the questions was about "electronic" petitions sent in to a council's website, how signatures could be validated and how many signatures would be needed for a petition to be acceptable. Comments made by the Lib Dem group to this question included the need for modernising the borough council's website in order to accommodate petitions and mentioned that petitions relating to planning applications may require a different timescale to those on other topics.

Response to questions contained in the consultation document was detailed and a full version is available - this needs to be read in conjunction with the Consultation Paper. Contact Julie Morris for more information.

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council forwarded the Lib Dem comments to the DCLG but other parties did not respond.