The council welcomes petitions and recognises that petitions are one way in which people can let us know their concerns. All petitions sent or presented to the council will receive an acknowledgement from the council within 10 working days of receipt. This acknowledgement will set out what we plan to do with the petition.

Petitions can also be presented to a meeting of the council. These meetings take place on an approximate six weekly basis, dates and times can be found on our Agendas and Minutes pages. If you would like to present your petition to the council, or would like your councillor to present it on your behalf, please contact Member Support Services on 01803 861234 at least 15 working days before the meeting and they will talk you through the process.

Online petitions
It is now possible to start and support a petition online. This means that the petition can be made available to a potentially much wider audience, giving you the opportunity to gather more names in support. The e-petitioning system also allows the principal petitioner the opportunity to provide background information, including links to other web sites or photographs, and provides the opportunity for online debate, giving decision makers the chance to see the strength of feeling about the issue.

We welcome e-petitions that are created and submitted through this website. E-petitions must follow the same guidelines as paper petitions. The petition organiser will need to provide us with their name, postal address and email address. You will also need to decide how long you would like your petition to be open for signatures. Most petitions run for six months, but you can choose a shorter or longer timeframe, up to a maximum of 12 months.