St Ives resident,  John Sayer, wishes to draw attention to problems caused by flooding to houses that he and his neighbours live in at St Audrey’s lane, but not been able to raise the necessary 50 signatures to present a petition to Huntingdonshire District Council’s next council meeting because not enough residents were affected. 

Now he has been offered an opportunity to present his petition at a meeting of one of the council’s overview and scrutiny panels next Tuesday, 12 Februrary.  Councillor John Davies who represents St Audrey’s Lane and is a member of the panel said: “When Mr Sayer approached me and told me he had only 26 signatures, I realised that he was not going to be able to submit his petition to a full council meeting and that unless a way could be found for him to present his petition elsewhere, all his hard work in collecting his neighbours’ signatures would have been in vain.”

Mr Sayer will now have an opportunity to explain the problems that he and his neighbours have experienced in an attempt to find a solution to prevent their houses from being vulnerable at times of heavy rain. 

Councillor Jonathan Gray who chairs the panel, said: “We welcome Mr Sayer’s visit to our next meeting which demonstrates how local residents can raise concerns with the council and speak to councillors in person to explain their problems or draw attention to local issues.  The Government is currently consulting on how local petitions will be dealt with by councils but we can already demonstrate at Huntingdonshire how we are enabling local communities to express their views collectively and generate local debate.”