This Order specifies, for England, matters that are not to be relevant matters for the purposes of section 14(1) of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Consequently, the petition schemes of principal local authorities in England are not required to make provision requiring the authority to take steps in response to petitions dealing with those matters.

Article 2 of the Order provides that a matter relating to a licensing decision or a planning decision (both defined in article 1(3)); or a matter relating to an individual or entity where there is already a statutory right to a review or appeal (other than the right to complain to the Commission for Local Administration – commonly known as the Local Government Ombudsman) are not relevant matters.

Article 3 provides that a petition which calls for action in respect of an allegation of systematic failure of an authority to discharge a function for which the authority is responsible is a relevant matter, notwithstanding that the petition specifies matters which would otherwise be excluded by virtue of article 2.

Article 4 specifies the maximum number of signatures that authorities may include in their petition schemes as being required to trigger a debate of the full council. That figure is 5% of the local population as estimated by the Office of National Statistics.

No impact assessment has been prepared in respect of this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.