Petition scheme

Guidelines for submitting a petition

Petitions submitted to the council meeting (under Council and Committee Procedure Rules paragraph 9) must include:

  • a clear, concise statement covering the subject of the petition. This must relate to something which is the responsibility of the council, or over which the council has some influence and should state what action the petitioners want the council to take
  • the name and address and signature of any person supporting the petition
  • the name and contact details of the "petition-organiser" or someone to whom you would like any correspondence about the petition to be sent. Contact details may be either a postal address or an email address. These details will not be placed on our website

If a petition does not follow the above guidelines the council may decide to take no action.  If this is the case we will write to confirm the reasons.

Petitions which are considered to be vexatious, abusive, repetitive or otherwise inappropriate will not be accepted.

In the period immediately before an election or referendum we may need to deal with your petition differently – if this is the case we will explain the reasons and discuss the revised timescale which may apply.

If the petition applies to a planning or licensing application, is a statutory petition (for example, requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor), or on a matter where there is already an existing right of appeal other procedures apply.

Petitions which raise issues of possible councillor misconduct will be taken as complaints arising under the Local Government Act 2000 and will be reported to the Standards Committee rather than considered under this petitions scheme.

Where the petition raises issues of possible competence or misconduct by an officer, the petition will be considered under the council's complaints and/or disciplinary procedures, and not under this petitions scheme.