ePetitions
Creating or taking part in a petition is one way individuals, community groups and organisations can get involved in what the Council does. It allows people to raise issues of concern, giving Councillors the opportunity to consider the need for change. With a view to making submissions of petitions easier, the Council has introduced an ePetition facility.
Before submitting a petition you should first check with your local Councillor to see if the Council is already acting on your concerns and that the Council is the most appropriate body to receive your petition.
If you create an ePetition you will become the ‘lead’ petitioner and you will be required to provide the Council with basic personal information so that we can contact you.
If you sign an ePetition you will be required to provide us with basic personal information, including an e-mail address, to enable us to verify the ‘signatures’ collected are genuine. When you have submitted this information you will be sent an e-mail to the address you have provided. This e-mail will include a link which you must click on in order to confirm the e-mail address is valid. Once this step is complete your ‘signature’ will be added to the ePetition. Your name (but no other details) will be published on the ePetition website.
In all instances, you’ll need to give us your details and a valid email address.
What happens when the ePetition is complete and how is it submitted?
Your ePetition will need to include:
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Title
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A description explicitly setting out what action you would like the Council to take, and any information which you feel is relevant to the ePetition and reasons why you consider the action requested to be necessary.
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A date for when you would like your ePetition to go live on the website. It may take Democratic Services up to 5 days to check your ePetition request and discuss any issues with you, so please ensure that you submit the request in sufficient time.
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A date for when your ePetition will stop collecting signatures. In order to achieve the maximum impact, you may want to set this date so that the ePetition will be submitted before a date on which a debate is to be held or a decision taken on the issue. We will host your ePetition for up to four months but would expect most to be shorter in length than this.
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Your name - as lead petitioner, your name will be displayed with your ePetition on the website.
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Petitions must be signed by at least 100 people but the Council will use its discretion where there are fewer than 100 signatories in cases where there is clear local support for action (e.g. where the residents of a small community have petitioned for traffic calming measures).
When an ePetition reaches its closing date, you will no longer be able to sign it online. The list of signatories will be collated by Democratic Services and the lead petitioner will be contacted regarding the submission of the completed ePetition.
Depending on the subject matter and advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer the petition can be presented at a meeting of the Council, the Cabinet or an Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee can fully debate the issue and make recommendation(s) to Council or Cabinet, as appropriate. In some instances if the petition relates to a 'local' issue it could be referred to one of the Council’s Local Area Forums for further debate prior to formal consideration.
If the petition is presented to an Overview and Scrutiny Committee the lead petitioner will be invited to attend the meeting and will be offered the opportunity to present the petition, which will involve a brief three minute summary of what the petition is about and how many signatories there are. Alternatively, the lead petitioner can ask a Councillor to present the petition (this would normally be the local Councillor). If the lead petitioner does not attend to present the petition, and the local Councillor has not been asked to present on their behalf, it will be read out by the Chair. Following the meeting a response will be sent to the lead petitioner within 15 working days of the meeting and will be posted on the Council’s website.
Any petition going direct to Council or Cabinet must be presented by a Councillor.
What issues can my ePetition relate to?
Your ePetititon should be relevant to an issue that the Council has powers or duties or on which it has shared delivery responsibilities. It should also be submitted in good faith and be decent, honest and respectful.
Your ePetition may be rejected if the Council’s Monitoring Officer considers it:
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contains intemperate, inflammatory, abusive or provocative language
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is defamatory, frivolous, vexatious, discriminatory or otherwise offensive, or contains false statements
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is too similar to another petition submitted within the past six months
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discloses confidential or exempt information, including information protected by a court order or government department
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discloses material, which is otherwise commercially sensitive
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names individuals, or provides information where they may be easily identified, eg individual officers of public bodies, or makes criminal accusations
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contains advertising statements
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refers to an issue which is currently the subject of a formal Council complaint, consultation, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales complaint or any legal proceedings
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relates to the Council’s planning or licensing functions as there are separate statutory processes in place for dealing with these matters
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does not relate to an issue upon which the council has powers or duties or on which it has shared delivery responsibilities
If we decide that a petition is not acceptable then we will let the petition organiser know our reasons.
During politically sensitive periods, such as prior to an election, politically controversial material may need to be restricted.
The council accepts no liability for the petitions on these web pages. The views expressed in the petitions do not necessarily reflect those of the Council.
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