Guide Petitions

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8. What will the Council do when it receives my petition?

All petitions sent or presented to the Council will receive an acknowledgement within 10 working days of receipt.  The acknowledgement will be sent to the petition organiser and will explain what we plan to do with the petition and when you can expect to hear from us again.  Details of your petition will be provided to the Chairman of the Council, the political party group leaders, the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Executive so they are informed of the details of the petition.

If we can do what your petition asks for, the acknowledgement may confirm that we have taken the action requested and the petition will be closed. If the petition has enough signatures to trigger a Council meeting debate, or a senior Council employee giving evidence, then the acknowledgement will confirm this and tell you when and where the meeting will take place.  If the petition needs more investigation, we will tell you the steps we plan to take.

If you submit an ‘ordinary’ petition the Democratic Services Manager will contact the petition organiser and inform them which body/decision-maker will respond to the petition and invite them to choose whether they wish to make a presentation at a Council meeting or for the petition to be referred direct to the body/decision-maker concerned. However, if the subject of the petition is due to be considered by the decision-maker before the next meeting of the Council it will be referred to the decision-maker direct and you will not, therefore, have the opportunity to present your petition at a Council meeting. If you choose to submit your petition directly to the decision-maker you will be informed who makes the decision and who will be contacting you to make arrangements for you to meet with the decision-maker.