Members of the Honiton community engaged with the town's public affairs will be eagerly awaiting Wednesday's full council meeting.

Up for discussion is the recent petition calling for all councillors to stand down from their seats and allow for a public vote to re-elect members.

At the time of writing, the online petition has received 578 signatories - not including signed paper copies.

The agenda contains a report titled 'Election Petition' written by Cllr James Wyatt, which states that members are to be 'informed' of the petition 'currently in process by the people of Honiton' and 'propose actions to address the concerns.'

Cllr Wyatt provides some background to the petition, explaining: "While Honiton Town Council is not bound by the petition, the principle used by National Government is that if 100,000 signatures are given to a petition it should be debated in Parliament.

"Scaling that from a population of 65 million in the UK to 12,000 in Honiton the principle would be that the Town Council should debate the petition once 65 residents have signed any petition."

The petition has secured more than eight times that figure.

It goes on to say that the council 'recognises' that none of the members currently sitting have been elected by the public.

"They have either put their name forward for election but no other candidate has opposed them or they have been co-opted."

And: "If there are enough candidates to contest seats and therefore deliver a representative council this will be of great value to Honiton.

However: "If no seats are contested then an election is a waste of time and distraction from more pressing matters for the town."

The three options outlaid are as follows:

1. Accept the concerns of the public but do not uphold the petition.

1. Fully accept the proposal of the petition and all councillors resign their positions and seek re-election should they choose to.

1. Direct the town clerk to accept nominations for all town council positions in the next month and if there are at least two candidates per position Honiton Town Council deems an election will be a productive activity for the town and all councillors are to resign and seek re-election should they choose to.

The recommendation is that members resolve to accept option three in this report.

A spokesperson for the Honiton Residents who are behind the petition said: "We are really glad that it's going to be discussed and look forward to the public debate.

"Our petition is part of an ongoing movement and will continue to circulate after the meeting on Wednesday."

A live stream of the event will be available via the Honiton Nub News Facebook page.