Submitting a petition or sign an e-petition

Creating or taking part in a petition is one way individuals, community groups and organisation 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 submission of petitions easier, the Council has introduced an e-petition facility.

Before submitting a petition (or e-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. Details of Vale of Glamorgan Councillors can be accessed by the following link:

https://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/en/our_council/Council-Structure/councillors/Councillors.aspx

If you create a petition 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.

Basic personal information will be:

Title

Full Name

Contact Telephone Number

Email address

Postal Address or Name of Organisation/Company

Post Code


Registering your Details

If you wish to create or sign an e-petition you will be required to log-in and register your details with us and provide us with basic personal information, including your postal and email addresses. This will enable us to verify the ‘signatures’ collected are genuine. You will need to create and submit a password for you to log-in.

You will be sent an email to complete the registration process.

Signing an E-Petition

When you have registered you will be required to log-in using the credentials and password you have submitted. You will then be able to sign an e-petition by using the Sign Petition button under the relevant e-petition that you are interested in. Once signed, an email will be then be sent to the email address that you have provided to confirm that your signature has been added to the e-petition. You will only be able to sign a petition once.

What happens when the petition (including e-petition) is complete and how is it submitted?

To create a petition electronically, you can use the online e-petition facility.

Alternatively, you can send completed petitions electronically via email: Democratic@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

Or to the following postal address:

Democratic and Scrutiny Services

The Vale of Glamorgan Council

Civic Offices

Holton Road

BARRY

CF63 4RU


Or contact the Democratic and Scrutiny Services on 01446 709249 to make arrangements to hand in a petition


Your petition will need to include:

Title.

A statement explicitly setting out what action you would like the Council to take.

Any information which you feel is relevant to the petition and reasons why you consider the action requested to be necessary. You may include links to other relevant websites on an e-petition.

If you submit an e-petition, we will need:

  • to check your petition, then publish it in Welsh and English. We only reject petitions that don’t meet the standards for petitions. It may take Democratic Services up to 7 working days to check your e-petition request and discuss any issues with you, so please ensure that you submit the request in sufficient time.
  • a date for when your e-petition will stop collecting signatures. In order to achieve the maximum impact, you may want to set this date so that the e-petition 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 e-petition for up to four months but would expect most to be shorter in length than this.
  • your name - as lead petitioner.

When an e-petition 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 e-petition.

Petitions (including e-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).

How will the Council respond to a petition?

Depending on the subject matter and advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer (or in their absence, the views of the Council’s Deputy Monitoring Officer) the petition can be presented to a meeting of the Council, the Cabinet or a Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Committee can fully debate the issue and make recommendation(s) to Council or Cabinet, as appropriate.

If the petition is presented to a 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, the purpose of the petition and the number of signatories 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 or the Cabinet Member with the relevant portfolio.

What issues can my petition relate to?

Your petition 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 petition may be rejected if the Council’s Monitoring Officer considers it:

  • contains intemperate, inflammatory, abusive or provocative language,
  • is defamatory, frivolous, vexatious, discriminatory or otherwise offensive, or contains false statements,
  • is too similar to another petition submitted within the past six months,
  • discloses confidential or exempt information, including information protected by a court order or government department,
  • discloses material, which is otherwise commercially sensitive,
  • names individuals, or provides information where they may be easily identified, e.g. individual officers of public bodies,
  • makes criminal accusations,
  • contains advertising statements,
  • refers to an issue which is currently the subject of a formal Council complaint, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales complaint or any legal proceedings,
  • where a petition is submitted in response to a public consultation being run by the Council, the petition will be acknowledged as part of that process and will be considered along with other consultation response. The Council will not necessarily respond to the petition separately in this case,
  • relates to statutory petitions, or petitions relating to Local Authority Referendums which falls under the Local Authorities (Referendums) (Petitions and Directions) (Wales) Regulations 2001,
  • relates to the Council’s planning or licensing functions as there are separate statutory processes in place for dealing with these matters, and
  • 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. This will be in writing or via email. The title and text of the petition will be published online as part of the list of inadmissible petitions, along with an explanation about why it wasn’t admissible.

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 e-petitions on its website. The views expressed in the e-petitions do not necessarily reflect those of the Council.

If your petition relates to an issue which is beyond the powers of the Council to address, it may be more appropriate to start an e-petition on the Welsh Parliament, website. Advice on the admissibility of e-petitions can be obtained from Democratic Services.

Creating or taking part in a petition is one way individuals, community groups and organisation 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 submission of petitions easier, the Council has introduced an e-petition facility.

Before submitting a petition (or e-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. Details of Vale of Glamorgan Councillors can be accessed by the following link:

https://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/en/our_council/Council-Structure/councillors/Councillors.aspx

If you create a petition 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.

Basic personal information will be:

Title

Full Name

Contact Telephone Number

Email address

Postal Address or Name of Organisation/Company

Post Code


Registering your Details

If you wish to create or sign an e-petition you will be required to log-in and register your details with us and provide us with basic personal information, including your postal and email addresses. This will enable us to verify the ‘signatures’ collected are genuine. You will need to create and submit a password for you to log-in.

You will be sent an email to complete the registration process.

Signing an E-Petition

When you have registered you will be required to log-in using the credentials and password you have submitted. You will then be able to sign an e-petition by using the Sign Petition button under the relevant e-petition that you are interested in. Once signed, an email will be then be sent to the email address that you have provided to confirm that your signature has been added to the e-petition. You will only be able to sign a petition once.

What happens when the petition (including e-petition) is complete and how is it submitted?

To create a petition electronically, you can use the online e-petition facility.

Alternatively, you can send completed petitions electronically via email: Democratic@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

Or to the following postal address:

Democratic and Scrutiny Services

The Vale of Glamorgan Council

Civic Offices

Holton Road

BARRY

CF63 4RU


Or contact the Democratic and Scrutiny Services on 01446 709249 to make arrangements to hand in a petition


Your petition will need to include:

Title.

A statement explicitly setting out what action you would like the Council to take.

Any information which you feel is relevant to the petition and reasons why you consider the action requested to be necessary. You may include links to other relevant websites on an e-petition.

If you submit an e-petition, we will need:

  • to check your petition, then publish it in Welsh and English. We only reject petitions that don’t meet the standards for petitions. It may take Democratic Services up to 7 working days to check your e-petition request and discuss any issues with you, so please ensure that you submit the request in sufficient time.
  • a date for when your e-petition will stop collecting signatures. In order to achieve the maximum impact, you may want to set this date so that the e-petition 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 e-petition for up to four months but would expect most to be shorter in length than this.
  • your name - as lead petitioner.

When an e-petition 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 e-petition.

Petitions (including e-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).

How will the Council respond to a petition?

Depending on the subject matter and advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer (or in their absence, the views of the Council’s Deputy Monitoring Officer) the petition can be presented to a meeting of the Council, the Cabinet or a Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Committee can fully debate the issue and make recommendation(s) to Council or Cabinet, as appropriate.

If the petition is presented to a 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, the purpose of the petition and the number of signatories 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 or the Cabinet Member with the relevant portfolio.

What issues can my petition relate to?

Your petition 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 petition may be rejected if the Council’s Monitoring Officer considers it:

  • contains intemperate, inflammatory, abusive or provocative language,
  • is defamatory, frivolous, vexatious, discriminatory or otherwise offensive, or contains false statements,
  • is too similar to another petition submitted within the past six months,
  • discloses confidential or exempt information, including information protected by a court order or government department,
  • discloses material, which is otherwise commercially sensitive,
  • names individuals, or provides information where they may be easily identified, e.g. individual officers of public bodies,
  • makes criminal accusations,
  • contains advertising statements,
  • refers to an issue which is currently the subject of a formal Council complaint, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales complaint or any legal proceedings,
  • where a petition is submitted in response to a public consultation being run by the Council, the petition will be acknowledged as part of that process and will be considered along with other consultation response. The Council will not necessarily respond to the petition separately in this case,
  • relates to statutory petitions, or petitions relating to Local Authority Referendums which falls under the Local Authorities (Referendums) (Petitions and Directions) (Wales) Regulations 2001,
  • relates to the Council’s planning or licensing functions as there are separate statutory processes in place for dealing with these matters, and
  • 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. This will be in writing or via email. The title and text of the petition will be published online as part of the list of inadmissible petitions, along with an explanation about why it wasn’t admissible.

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 e-petitions on its website. The views expressed in the e-petitions do not necessarily reflect those of the Council.

If your petition relates to an issue which is beyond the powers of the Council to address, it may be more appropriate to start an e-petition on the Welsh Parliament, website. Advice on the admissibility of e-petitions can be obtained from Democratic Services.