If your petition is accepted and has the required amount of signatures this will start a formal debate.

Your petition will then be allocated to one of our scrutiny committees (Overview and Scrutiny or Health Scrutiny Committees).

Formal debate process

1. An officer will write to you 10 working days before the scrutiny committee meeting
2. If confidential information is to be discussed the reason why will be made public
3. You may be asked for more detail about your petition. A meeting may also be held to try and reach an agreement before the debate
4. You or a representative will need to attend the scrutiny committee. If no-one attends, the petition can be dismissed with no further action
5. You will need to talk about your petition and give any supporting evidence. The evidence will be used in the debate
6. A relevant council officer will then give their evidence. The Chair may allow you time to question the officer and the officer may be able to question you
7. The Chair will summarise the debate before closing the debate

The scrutiny committee will review all evidence and may carry out additional research. They will then decide whether to support or reject your petition.

The decision will be made within six weeks.

You will be informed in writing of the committee’s decision as soon as it is made.

If your petition is supported, the committee will recommend the course of action that the council should take.

There is no right to appeal.