Public Petitions Committee, 08 Sep 2005

Meeting date: Thursday, September 8, 2005

Official Report 311KB pdf

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Public Petitions Committee Event

Item 3 is a report on the Public Petitions Committee's event in Ayr on 6 June 2005, the third of our rolling programme of participation events. The event consisted of a formal committee meeting in the morning and a workshop event in the afternoon. The committee considered eight local petitions in the community in which they originated. In the afternoon, about 50 people from Ayrshire participated in the workshop event. On behalf of the committee, I place on record my appreciation to all those who attended and contributed to making the day such a success.

The committee is invited to consider the report on the event that has been circulated to them by the clerks and to agree to the recommendations that are set out in paragraph 22 of the report, which will be published on the committee's website and circulated to everyone who attended on the day. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

The feedback that I have received from the residents of Ayr and elsewhere in Ayrshire has been very positive. People very much welcomed the committee's visit to Ayr and thought that it worked particularly well, in that we were able to discuss the issues in a cross-party way, without party politics being involved, and to come to conclusions about how the petitions should be resolved. As far as I understand it, they were very appreciative of our visit.

That is good to know.

I wish to highlight one comment in the report, which I am happy to endorse. One person's feedback said:

"I am enlightened and armed with some first class data on being a public petitioner. Well worth attending!"

I am sure that we will hear more from that gentleman.

We should watch out for petitions coming in from that person.

We should adopt the report's conclusions.

Are members happy to do that?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank members for their attendance.

Meeting closed at 12:47.