Gweld y tudalen hon yn Gymraeg / View this page in Welsh

Petitions let you raise issues that matter to you, giving Councillors the opportunity to consider the need for change. To make this easier, the Council offers an online e-petition service.

Anyone who lives, works, or studies in the Vale can create or sign a petition, including under 18s.

Before starting your e-petition

Before starting a petition, it’s a good idea to contact your local Councillor or our Democratic Services Team to see if the Council is already addressing your concern and to ensure it’s the right body to receive your petition.

You can also check our petition criteria.

Starting your e-petition

Your e-petition should include:

• A clear title

• A statement of the action you want the Council to take

• Any supporting information, including links to relevant resources

• A closing date - this should help maximise its impact, for example, before a debate or decision on the issue. E-petitions can be hosted for up to 120 days (around four months), though most run for a shorter period.

Petitions should be respectful, relevant, and submitted in good faith. The Council may reject petitions that are offensive, defamatory, duplicative, or outside its powers.

Once you submit your e-petition, our Democratic Services team will review it to ensure it meets the criteria. This can take up to seven working days.

When you start 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.

If a petition is not accepted, the lead petitioner will be informed, and the reason will be published on the Rejected E-Petitions page.

To ensure all e-petitions are genuine, you’ll be asked to sign in or register before submitting your e-petition. Simply register your details and confirm your account via the verification email you’ll receive.

Publishing and sharing your e-petition for signatures

Once your e-petition has been approved and meets the Council’s criteria, it will be published online in both Welsh and English.

Your petition will appear in our list of current e-petitions so that people can share their support by adding their signature. You can also share a direct link with friends, family, or your community to encourage more support.

As Lead Petitioner you should advise Democratic Services if a hard copy of the petition is to be submitted in conjunction with the e-petition.

E-petition closing and consideration

When an e-petition reaches its closing date, it will no longer accept signatures. The list of signatories will be collated by Democratic Services, and the lead petitioner will be contacted.

While petitions generally need at least 100 signatures, the Council may accept fewer if there is clear local support.

Depending on the topic and advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer (or Deputy Monitoring Officer), a petition may be considered by Full Council, Cabinet, or a Scrutiny Committee.

The lead petitioner will be informed in advance which body will consider the petition and when.

If considered by a Scrutiny Committee, the lead petitioner can attend and present a brief three-minute summary of the petition and its signatories or ask a local Councillor to present it on their behalf. If neither attend, the Chair will read out the purpose of the petition and the number of signatories.

Petitions submitted directly to Council or Cabinet must be presented by a Councillor or the relevant Cabinet Member.

After consideration, a formal response will be sent to the lead petitioner and published on the Council’s website within 15 working days.