Town halls would be forced to take action over petitions with more than 200 signatures under new proposals to devolve power to voters.

Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, is to publish a consultation paper detailing new rights to trigger changes in council policy. This could include issues such as tackling antisocial behaviour, improving street lighting or rubbish collection, or installing more CCTV cameras.

Ms Blears told The Times that if petitions had more than 200 or 300 signatures councils would be required to respond, either by changing policy or giving a full explanation of why the request was turned down.

It was vital to get the balance right, Ms Blears said. If statutory bodies had a duty to respond to a petition there had to be a sensible threshold for the number of backers. “If the number was too low, say about 25, a small group of people could waste the council’s time. But if the number was too high, at around 500, it might be difficult to get enough signatures for an important issue.”

Ms Blears said she also wanted to consult about the type of response that a petition would trigger. “I’m not suggesting an automatic change of policy – democracy defined by Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is no democracy at all. But . . . there’s a very strong case for the council to take a hard look at their policy.”

In some cases a request would go to the council’s overview and scrutiny committee which would coopt outside experts to resolve the issue. If councils refused to act or respond they could be taken to court by residents.

But council chiefs insisted yesterday that they already responded to thousands of petitions every year and gave warning that more bureaucratic rules would not improve local policy.

Ms Blears also suggested that the idea should be extended at national level, with the Government being required to respond to petitions.

Downing Street now replies to petitions of more than 200 signatures on its website although it is not required to take action. The new rules could be applied across Whitehall and to those petitions submitted to Parliament “which pile up in a green bag behind the Speaker’s chair” Ms Blears said.

More than 20 per cent of people sign petitions to councils and the Government but most feel that their views are ignored. Petitions have statutory significance in a number of countries, including Germany, the US, Sweden, Italy, Canada and New Zealand, Ms Blears said.

She added: “New petition powers will be an important opportunity for people to influence and play a part in local decision-making alongside proposals for citizen juries, participatory budgeting and putting more local assets in the hands of communities. “Our participatory democracy is too weak at a local level so we have to rise to the new challenge of encouraging engagement through new means.”

Ms Blears announced the allocation of £2 million for a “national empowerment partnership” to help people to “engage” in local decisions, particularly in disadvantaged areas. This could include setting up citizen juries of ten to twelve members and community charters. She also confirmed a slashing of red tape, with 1,200 performance indicators for town halls being reduced to about 200. In future, councils will agree with the Government on up to 35 priorities for their area.

She said: “The Government is giving local leaders and local people the power to decide how councils should prioritise and tackle the issues that matter most to local communities.”

The Local Government Assocation welcomed the reduction in central initiatives but criticised the Government for intervening over petitions.

“We are really not sure what problem the Government thinks it is trying to fix here, as councils are in touch with local people’s views on myriad local issues,” an LGA spokesman said. “Imposing bureaucratic new rules for councils to follow is certainly not the way to improve anything.

“As the Government has admitted, countries that have legal rules about petitions actually have fewer of them. Before trying to prescribe to local government how many signatures should constitute an unnecessary new legal definition of a petition, civil servants might like to get their own house in order about what central government does with the petitions it receives.”

Dear Prime Minister . ..

Petitions over 200 signatures

— Change the 2012 Olympics logo - 310 signatures

— Ban bins that weigh and charge for household rubbish - 345

— Stop building of a supermarket in Hadleigh, Suffolk - 322

Those under 200 signatures

— Increase the basic state pension by 100 per cent -191

— Give the former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman an OBE - 178

— Allow travel insurance for cancer patients - 191

Source: 10 Downing Street

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