About petitions

How do I create or submit a petition?

You can register or login to submit a petition online or send paper petitions to:

You can make arrangements to hand a petition in by contacting Mike Bradbury on 01785 276133.

When you create an e-petition, it may take five working days before it is published online.  This is because we have to check that the content of your e-petition is suitable before it is made available for signature. If we feel we cannot publish your e-petition for some reason, we will contact you within this time to explain. You will be able to change and resubmit your e-petition if you wish. If you do not do this within 10 working days, a summary of the e-petition and the reason why it has not been accepted will be published under the 'rejected e-petitions' section of the website.

What must my petition include?

Petitions to us must include:

• the address and contact details for the petition organiser,
• a clear and concise statement about what the petition is for and what action the petitioners want us to take (or stop taking),
• the name and address and signature of any person supporting the petition.

If the petition does not name a petition organiser, we will contact signatories to the petition to agree who should act as the petition organiser. Please tell us if the petition has been sent to anyone else as well as ourselves.

Please note: Petitions which we consider to be abusive or inappropriate will not be accepted.

How do I sign a petition?

You can see all the e-petitions currently available for signature through the Modern gov website.

When you sign an e-petition you will be asked to provide your name, your postcode and a valid email address. When you have submitted this information you will be sent an email to the email address you have provided. This email will include a link which you must click on  to confirm the email address is valid. Once this step is complete your 'signature' will be added to the petition. People visiting the e-petition will be able to see your name in the list of those who have signed it but your contact details will not be visible.

What happens after I submit a petition?

We will send an acknowledgement of a petition within 10 working days of receipt. It will explain what we plan to do and if and when you can expect to hear from us again. 

There are several different ways that your petition will be dealt with after this aknowledgement:

• If we can do what your petition asks for, we will confirm that we will do it and the petition will be closed.

• If we need to investigate, we will tell you how we plan to take to do this, how you may be involved and when you can expect the final response.

• If the petition has enough signatures to trigger a council debate (5,000 signatures), or allow a senior officer to give evidence (2,500 signatures). We will confirm this with you and tell you when and where the meeting will take place and how you may be involved. 

• If the petition is about a planning application, about a matter where there is already an existing right of appeal, or is a statutory petition,  other procedures will apply.

• If your petition does not follow the guidelines, the council may decide not to do anything further with it. In this case, we will write to you to explain the reasons.

• If your petition was sent in the period before an election or referendum, we may need to deal with it differently. We will contact you with further information if this is the case.

• If you are calling for a referendum on our governance arrangements your petition must contain the signatures of at least 5% of the electorate, which is currently 33,351 signatures.

Will my petition be presented to the full council?

If your petition has more than 5,000 signatures it will be debated by the full council. This is a meeting that all County Councillors can attend and we will let you know about how you may be involved.

View the dates and times of these meetings online.

A response to the petition, or further steps to be taken, may be decided at this meeting. If the council executive has to make the final decision on the response to the petition, the council may make recommendations to help this decision.

If you would like to present your petition to the full council, or would like someone else to present it on your behalf, please contact Mike Bradbury on 01785 276133 at least 10 working days before the meeting and he will talk you through the process.

Who can give evidence relating to my petition?

If your petition contains at least 2,500 signatures, the relevant senior officer will give evidence at a public meeting. The senior staff that can be called to give evidence are:

• Pat Flaherty, Chief Executive
• Neelam Bhardwaja, Director for Children and Families
• Darryl Eyers, Director for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills
• Richard Harling, Director for Health and Care
• John Tradewell, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Services

Please note: The overview and scrutiny committee may decide that it would be more appropriate for another officer to give evidence instead of any officer named in the petition. The committee may also decide to call the relevant councillor to attend the meeting.

Committee members will ask the questions at this meeting, but we will let you know the specific arrangements for the meeting and how you may be involved. They will make a report on its findings which may include recommendations for action.

The petition organiser will be sent a copy of the overview and scrutiny committee's report.

What happens if you can't deal with a petition?

If your petition is about something which we have no direct control over, such as a local railway or hospital, we will consider making representations on behalf of the community to the relevant body.

If your petition is about something that a different council is responsible for, we will consider the best way of responding. This might consist of forwarding the petition to the other council, but could involve other steps.

We will always notify you of the action we have taken.

What if I feel that my petition has not been dealt with properly?

If you feel that we have not dealt with your petition properly, the petition organiser can request a review of the steps that we have taken in response. It is helpful to everyone if the petition organiser gives a short explanation of the reasons why the steps the council has taken are not considered to be adequate.

The committee will usually consider your request at its next meeting, although on some occasions this may not be possible and consideration will take place at the following meeting. Should the committee determine that we have not dealt with your petition adequately, it may use any of its powers to deal with the matter. These powers include making recommendations to the council executive and arranging for the matter to be considered at a meeting of the full council.

Once the appeal has been considered the petition organiser will be informed of the results within 5 working days.

Closure of an e-petition

When an e-petition has closed for signature, it will automatically be submitted unless you would like to present it to a meeting of the council. If you would like to present your e-petition please contact in advance of the closure date:

Mike Bradbury, 
Democracy Manager
Email: Michael Bradbury
Telephone: 01785 276133

In the same way as a paper petition, you will receive an acknowledgement within 10 working days.

A petition acknowledgement and response will be emailed to everyone who has signed the e-petition and elected to receive this information. The acknowledgment and response will also be published on this website. We will not send you anything which is not relevant to the e-petition you have signed, unless you choose to receive other emails from us.