The Holystone Action Group petition was signed by 3,906 people opposed to the Core Strategy proposals for Key Housing sites and the areas of search for Waste Management and Gypsy/Travellers sites concentrated on the A19 corridor, all of which will have a detrimental effect on the environment and infrastructure in Shiremoor, Northumberland Park, Holyfields, West Allotment, Holystone, Palmersville, Forest Gate, Hadrian Park, Battle Hill, Hadrian Lodge and the Station Road area of Wallsend.
The same treatment was meted out in response to a 513 signature petition specifically objecting to the proposed housing around Station Road and East Benton Farm. This petition was submitted to the council before 12pm on 21st September 2010 and also only counted as ONE objection.
Despite 3906 petition objections to Shiremoor, Holystone & Station Road Housing sites along with 513 more petition objections to the Station Road Sites, the Councils Early Analysis of the core strategy responses (Appendix A), only shows 64 Objections to Shiremoor, 194 Objections to Holystone, 190 Objections to Station Road & East Benton Farm. These calculations based on Council "staff assessment" of responses !!!
The North Tyneside Council is governed by its constitution this outlines the rules and procedures the council are required to follow. One part of the constitution is the petition scheme which allows petitions to be submitted to the council legal services department. It also requires a full council debate on any petitions with 2,000 or more signatures.
Council Legal Services refused to accept the Holystone Action Group petition of 3,906 signatures and required that the petition to be submitted to the planning department. The planning department have now said that because the petition relates to a "Planning Matter" it is exempt from the formal petition scheme - nothing more will happen with it, other than a comment in the consultation documents saying a petition was received. Basically, 5 times more people signed the petitions than took part formally in the CSPO consultation, the council is treating that very substantial voice as an innocuous footnote. They're really listening to residents views aren't they?
The council constitution allows other petition procedures if the petition relates to a "Planning application", "Licensing application" is a "Statutory Petition" (such as request for a referendum), or on a matter where there is already an existing right of appeal (such as council tax banding). The Holystone Action Group petition against the core strategy is none of these; the core strategy is proposed council policy it certainly is not a planning application. The law allows the Council to exclude planning matters from its petition scheme, but North Tyneside Council didn't do this. It can't change it's mind just because it fancies it - they law requires the council to follow its petition scheme.
The council should not simply ignore the petition scheme requirements of its own constitution, it is required to have a petition scheme by law under the
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act (2009).
Furthermore, s.11(6) of this Act states "A principal local authority must comply with its petition scheme."
In law, one of the few exceptions is that councils are allowed to exclude certain types of petitions from their petition scheme. The petitions the council can exclude from its petition scheme are petitions about "Planning Decisions" covered by the The Local Authorities (Petitions) (England) Order 2010, this only became law on the 15th June 2010 - after the council had taken the decision to release the Core Strategy Preferred Options document for public consultation. In any case, the constitution of North Tyneside Council does not specifically exclude "Planning Decisions" from its petition scheme, it only excludes petitions relating to "Planning Applications" the core strategy is not a planning application and as the law clearly states, North Tyneside Council MUST comply with its petition scheme
