Petitions

Once your petition has been submitted to the council it will be passed to the relevant Head of Service for consideration. The form of the council’s response will depend on how many people have signed the petition and whether it has been presented formally by a councillor, but could include:

• considering the petition at a Cabinet meeting.
• considering the petition at an Ordinary Full Council
• writing to the petition organiser setting out the council’s views about the request in the petition
• submitting a formal report to the Executive/Executive Member for decision
• taking the action requested in the petition
• holding an inquiry into the matter
• undertaking research into the matter
• holding a public meeting
• holding a consultation
• holding a meeting with petitioners
• referring the petition for consideration by one of the council's Policy and Scrutiny Committees*
• in all cases where a petition has been presented by a councillor to an ordinary council meeting the relevant Chief Officer shall, within 28 days of the date of the meeting, (sooner if possible) report to the relevant Cabinet Member or Committee setting out proposals for the formal response to the petition and also advise the petition organiser.
• petitions, which do not trigger a debate at a Cabinet meeting or have not been presented by a councillor to an ordinary council meeting, shall be acknowledged by the Governance and Councillor Liaison Team and referred to the relevant Chief Officer who shall advise the petition organiser, within 28 days, but sooner if possible, of the council’s response, including the relevant Cabinet Member(s) and Ward Members. The Head of Governance and Councillor Liaison will inform the relevant Cabinet Member(s) and Ward Members that the petition has been received.

*Policy and Scrutiny committees are committees of councillors who are responsible for scrutinising the work of the council - in other words, the policy and scrutiny committee has the power to hold the council's decision makers to account.

Every person who signs an e-petition will receive an email detailing the response to the issues raised after the period for collecting signatures has closed. In the case of a hardcopy petition, the response will be forwarded to the petitioner organiser. The Governance and Councillor Liaison will also contact the petitioner to advise if their Petition has met any of the threshold.

The response

Every person who signs an e-petition will receive an email detailing the response to the issues raised after the period for collecting signatures has closed. In the case of a hardcopy petition, the response will be forwarded to the petitioner organiser. The Governance and Councillor Liaison will also contact the petitioner to advise if their Petition has met any of the threshold.

More information on the procedures for planning and licensing and how you can express your views is available on the planning and licensing pages. 

For information on any other procedures please contact Georgina Wills, Committee and Governance Officer, on 07870 548348 or email [email protected].

To ensure people know what we are doing in response to the petitions we receive the subject details of all the petitions submitted to us will be published on our website, except in cases where this is considered to be inappropriate. It should be noted that petitions presented to the council are public documents and any member of the public can ask to see a copy.