Shepton Mallet Town Council has formalised a new policy to handle public petitions, setting clear thresholds and procedures for their consideration.

The policy, which was debated and adopted at a recent meeting, aims to balance public engagement with the council's need to manage its time and resources effectively.

Under the new rules, petitions with 300 or more signatures will be considered by the full council, while those with 50 to 299 signatures will be directed to the relevant committee.

Petitions with fewer than 50 signatures will be handled by the officer team.

Councillor Janet Reilly described the policy as "a great start" but suggested that thresholds be set higher to prevent the council from being inundated with petitions. "Fifty signatures seem a very small number," she said. "The Senate petition had 350 signatures. I think we should raise the threshold to at least 200 for full council consideration."

Councillors also stressed the importance of public engagement before petitions are launched.

"Petitions should not be the first step," said Councillor Kai-Thomas Roth. "People should contact the council first to communicate their concerns. Petitions are for when people feel they haven't been listened to."

Councillor Matt Harrison echoed this sentiment, recalling an incident at the Mid-Somerset Show: "The people organising a petition were in a tent right behind ours, and we had a huge sign saying, 'Come and talk to your Town Council.' What more can you do?"

The policy will be reviewed in six months to assess its impact and determine if adjustments are needed. "This is a new policy, and we need to see how it works in practice," said Cllr Reilly. "If we find ourselves overwhelmed with petitions, we'll revisit it sooner rather than later."

Councillors debated the policy's fairness, particularly regarding age limits for signatories and the inclusion of signatures from outside the town. Councillor Martin Berkeley suggested: "Petitions should be signed by residents within the Shepton Mallet boundary. We can't have people from Australia signing petitions about local issues."

Despite differing views on some points, the policy was unanimously adopted, with councillors agreeing that it provides a strong framework for handling future petitions.