15Requirement to debate
(1)For the purposes of this section, a “petition requiring debate”, in relation to a principal local authority, is an active petition made to the authority in relation to which the conditions in subsection (2) are met.
(2)Those conditions are that—
(a)the petition is signed by the specified number of persons who live, work or study in the authority’s area, and
(b)the petition is not a petition requiring an officer to be called to account by the authority (within the meaning of section 16).
(3)A principal local authority’s petition scheme must secure that, where a petition requiring debate is made to the authority, the steps taken by the authority under section 14(5) include or comprise the step of considering the petition at a meeting of the authority.
(4)In subsection (2)(a), “specified number” means the number specified for the purposes of this section in the principal local authority’s petition scheme.