A debate about the latest Hare Hatch Sheeplands petition submitted to Wokingham Borough Council is due to be held during Council, which starts at 7.30pm.
There will be some spaces for people to attend, but we stress these are limited and are on a first come first served basis.
Twenty spaces will be available in the public gallery upstairs in the Council Chamber where the debate and meeting are being held. There will also be one hundred spaces in the David Hicks Room across the hallway, where we hope to have live webcast streaming.
If you cannot attend the meeting, or spaces are filled, the debate will also be streamed live online on the council’s @WokinghamBC Twitter.
The meeting starts promptly at 7.30pm, so we advise those attending to arrive between 7 and 7.15pm.
Please note, only those people with an officially submitted question will be able to speak, when they ask their question and if applicable their supplementary one.
Other members of the public attending in the Council Chamber must not vocally join in with the debate. The Borough Major could adjourn the meeting or ask for the public gallery to be cleared if there is a public disturbance.
In accordance with Procedure Rule 3.5.4.2 a maximum period of 30 minutes are allowed for petitions to be debated.
This is what happens during a petition debate:
- The petition organiser has five minutes to present the petition (if there is more than one petition organiser then they will share this time)
- The petition will then be debated by members for up to 30 minutes
- The petition organiser(s) then has right of reply of up to three minutes
- The Borough Mayor will then ask for motions on how the Council wishes to respond to the petition which may include:
- taking the action or some of the action the petition requests
- not taking the action the petition requests
- referring the petition to another body for them to consider and take the appropriate action
- Once a motion has been put forward, it will be voted on without discussion or amendment
- If the motion falls the Mayor will ask for a further motion to be put forward
- If the Mayor thinks a decision on how to respond to the petition cannot be reached then he decides, on behalf of the Council, not to take the action the petition requests
On 7 October the following petition was submitted to the Chief Executive. It contained more than 1,500 signatures, which is the threshold to trigger a debate at Council:
“We request, in the strongest possible terms, that Wokingham Borough Council does everything it can to ensure that Hare Hatch Sheeplands continues to operate as a financially viable enterprise. This will allow it to remain a highly valued community based asset used by so many different sections of the local population.
“We urge the Council to acknowledge that as well as the elderly, infirm and young, many social groups and organisations value it as a home for their activities. Schools and charities benefit from its support and local suppliers and companies benefit from its existence. We ask the Council to ensure this valuable asset remains in business and that the benefits it brings are not lost to us forever.”
For more details contact Democratic Services on (0118) 974 6051 or email: democratic.services@wokingham.gov.uk
