A PLAN to establish a bespoke Petitions Committee at Clacks Council has been deferred, following a vote at Kilncraigs.

Elected members were unable to come to a consensus on the matter, though there was strong support for the idea itself at Thursday's full council meeting.

The committee was planned as a means for members of the public to petition the council directly on individual matters.

The panel would have been made up of eight elected representatives, and steer decisions on how each petition should be dealt with. 

Council papers prepared before the meeting read: “The Petitions Committee would report on every petition, in respect of which it had heard representations, to council with its recommendation on how the petition should be disposed of.

“A Petitions Committee will provide a more suitable forum for interacting with petitioners and will ensure that petitioners are given the opportunity for greater discussion of petitions.”

Individual service committees had previously been charged with hearing such matters, with the remit later passed to full meetings of Clackmannanshire Council. The new committee would have taken on those responsibilities.

SNP councillors – including council leader Ellen Forson – generally supported the formation of a Petitions Committee. 

Cllr Forson said: “We’ve looked at what we currently do and we’ve looked at what other places do and we’ve tried to bring a better process forward.

"If this proposal isn’t supported, it’s back to the drawing board."

Lots of ideas were discussed and plenty of concerns were raised about the proposed petitions committee, but there was very little consensus among members about anything that was discussed. 

Bryan Quinn, Clacks' sole Green councillor, said: “If I was a petitioner I would want to bring it to full council to be taken more seriously and heard by everyone.

"If we were getting petitions every week, we should consider it, but at the moment it’s not taking up much time. I’m not sold on this as it is right now.” 

Cllr Denis Coyne called the proposed committee a “sideshow”.

The Conservative representative added: “I just don’t see the point in pretending that eight people can’t make the right decision.

"For reasons of efficiency, I think it’s a mistake not to give it executive powers."

Cllr Craig Holden also wanted to see a system where the petitions committee was given decision-making powers and full council was used for appeals processes. 

He ultimately put forward an amendment to defer the decision and further explore the options for a potential Petitions Committee. 

The decision to form the committee was then deferred after a 10-8 vote. 

For now, the process of making and hearing positions in Clackmannanshire has remained unchanged.