Petition on proposed changes to Council’s Residents’ Petition Scheme

Support transparency and public accountability

The Hillingdon Alliance of Residents’ Associations has launched a borough‑wide petition regarding proposed changes to the Council’s Residents’ Petition Scheme. The changes are scheduled to be voted on by all Councillors at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 9 July.

The proposals would:

• Increase local and planning petition thresholds from 20 signatures to 50;
• Increase borough‑wide petitions from 100 signatures to 500;
• Remove automatic Cabinet Member hearings for qualifying petitions, replacing them with either a written response or a site visit;
• Remove speaking rights on planning petitions where applications are decided by officers rather than the Planning Committee.

In practical terms, this would make it significantly harder for residents to secure a public hearing and speak directly to elected decision‑makers.

Why this matters

At last month’s Cabinet meeting, the Council spoke about increasing transparency, improving visibility and reinforcing accountability so that residents can have greater confidence in decision‑making. The Deputy Leader referred to “reinforcing accountability” and ensuring the Council remains “on the side of local people”. The Leader’s foreword to the 2025/26 Performance Report also states that transparency “allows our residents to hold us to account”.

As the umbrella body representing residents’ associations across Hillingdon, we believe it is reasonable to ask whether significantly raising petition thresholds and removing automatic public hearings aligns with those commitments.

Petitions are not simply service requests. They are:

• A mechanism for collective public representation;
• A way to demonstrate the strength of local feeling;
• A means of securing visible engagement with elected Members;
• One of the few formal routes through which residents can hold decision‑makers publicly accountable.

While written responses and site visits may be appropriate in some cases, they are not equivalent to a public hearing where residents can present concerns openly and Members respond in a transparent forum.

Higher thresholds may also disproportionately affect:

• Smaller neighbourhoods;
• Time‑limited planning matters;
• Residents with limited digital reach;
• Less organised or more vulnerable communities.

The existing scheme has operated for many years as an accessible democratic mechanism. Any reform should strengthen participation and confidence in local decision‑making — not reduce accessibility or visibility.

With the Full Council vote taking place on 9 July, this is the final opportunity for residents to demonstrate the level of public concern before a decision is made.

We invite residents to review the petition and add their signature:
👉 https://www.change.org/hillingdon-petition-changes

Freedom of Information request submitted

To ensure the debate is evidence‑led, we have also submitted a formal Freedom of Information request to Hillingdon Borough Council seeking:

• Historical petition data from the past four municipal years;
• Evidence of how many past petitions would have failed under the new thresholds;
• Any cost or time modelling supporting the removal of automatic hearings;
• The evidential basis for choosing exactly 50 and 500 signatures;
• Any benchmarking against other London boroughs;
• The data underpinning claims about digital petitioning and representativeness;
• The policy framework for the proposed “intelligent intervention” process.

The request was submitted on 3 July 2026 and is currently awaiting response. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Council is required to respond within 20 working days.

Given that the constitutional changes are due to be decided on 9 July, it is reasonable that Councillors and residents have access to the evidential basis for the proposals before a final vote is taken.

Whatever view residents take on the proposed reforms, these changes would shape how local voices are heard for years to come.

Support transparency and public accountability — sign before 9 July.

We invite residents to review the petition and sign it – see https://www.change.org/hillingdon-petition-changes

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