Guidelines for submitting a petition

 Petitions submitted to the council must include:

• A clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition and what action the petitioners wish the council to take. This statement should be printed on each page, so the signatories can be clear about what they’re supporting
• The name, address (including postcode) (this will be the 'qualifying address' of the signatory - the address in the borough at which they live, work or study) and signature of any person supporting the petition
• A minimum of 20 signatures of people who live, work or study in the borough

Petitions should be accompanied by contact details, including a postal address and ideally an email address or contact telephone number, for the petition organiser. If the petition does not identify a petition organiser, we will contact the first 10 signatories to the petition to agree who should act as the petition organiser.

What matters are excluded from the petition scheme?

Petitions which are considered to be vexatious, discriminatory, abusive or otherwise inappropriate will not be accepted. In the period before an election or referendum, we may need to deal with your petition differently - if this is the case, we will contact you to explain the reasons and discuss a revised timescale.

There are also matters which are specifically excluded under the petition scheme:

• Any matter relating to a planning application, decision or consultation carried out in relation to any development planning document. In these circumstances, petitions will be considered as responses to the consultation or publicity
• Any matter relating to a licensing decision, including licensing applications under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005
• Any matter which is currently or imminently subject to a consultation exercise
• Any matter which has been subject to a statutory consultation exercise and the consultation exercise has now closed, such as the local plan
• Any matters relating to complaints against councillors under the code of conduct
• Any matter where there is an existing right of appeal (such as council tax banding or non-domestic rates)
• Statutory petitions such as requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor
• Any matter which is substantially the same as a petition submitted in the previous 12 months
• Any matter which is considered to be exempt under the Local Government Act 1972, Access to Information Act 1985, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004

We will notify the petition organiser of the reasons for not being able to accept the petition if it is excluded on one or more of the above grounds.

Last updated: 30/11/2023 16:20