Petitions to the council

Petitions Scheme

How to give us your petition

1. 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 within 14 days of receipt. This acknowledgement will set out what we plan to do with the petition.

Please send paper petitions to:

The Chief Executive and Director of Administration
Wandsworth Council
The Town Hall
Wandsworth
London SW18 2PU

You can also submit and sign e-petitions (see 17 - 20 below).

2. Petitions can also be presented by a councillor at a meeting of the full Council. See the Council Browse meetings page for dates and times of these meetings. If you would like a councillor to present your petition, please use the Your councillors pages to find a councillor's contact details. Alternatively, contact Frankie Belloli, Head of Executive and Committee Services (see below for contact details). It would be helpful if arrangements are made at the latest by five working days before the meeting.

What are the guidelines for submitting a petition?

3. Petitions must include:

a clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition
a statement of what action the petitioners wish the Council to take
the name and address (which may be where the signatory lives, works or studies) and the signature of any person supporting the petition

4. Petitions should be accompanied by contact details, including an address, for the petition organiser. This is the person we will contact to explain how we will respond to the petition.

5. If the petition does not identify a petition organiser, we will contact the first signatory to the petition to agree who should act as the petition organiser. Petitions which are considered to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate will not be accepted. If a petition does not follow the guidelines set out above, the Council may decide not to do anything further with it. In that case, we will write to explain the reasons.

What will the Council do when it receives my petition?

6. An acknowledgement will be sent to the petition organiser within 14 days of receiving the petition. It will let them know what we plan to do with the petition and when they can expect to hear from us again.

7. If we can do what your petition asks, the acknowledgement may confirm that we have taken the action requested and the petition will be closed. If the petition needs more investigation, we will tell you the steps we plan to take.

8. If the petition applies to a planning or licensing application, is a statutory petition (for example, requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor), or on a matter where there is already an existing right of appeal, such as council tax banding and non-domestic rates, other procedures apply. For further information on all these procedures and how you can express your views, contact Frankie Belloli (see below for contact details).

9. We will not take action on any petition which we consider to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate, and will explain the reasons for this in our acknowledgement of the petition.

How will the Council respond to petitions?

10. Our response to a petition will depend on what a petition asks for and how many people have signed it, but may include one or more of the following:

taking the action requested in the petition
considering the petition at a council meeting
holding an inquiry into the matter
undertaking research into the matter
holding a public meeting
holding a meeting with petitioners
referring the petition for consideration by the Council's overview and scrutiny committee*
writing to the petition organiser setting out our views about the request in the petition

* Overview and scrutiny committees are committees of councillors who are responsible for scrutinising the work of the council - in other words, the overview and scrutiny committee has the power to hold the Council's decision- makers to account.

11. If your petition is about something over which the Council has no direct control (for example, the local railway station or hospital), we may make representations on behalf of the community to the relevant body. The Council works with a large number of local partners and where possible, we will work with these partners to respond to your petition. If we are not able to do this for any reason (for example, if what the petition calls for should conflict with Council policy), then we will set out the reasons for this to you.

12. If your petition is about something that a different council is responsible for, we will give consideration to what the best method is for responding to it. This might consist of simply forwarding the petition to the other council, but could involve other steps. In any event we will always notify you of the action we have taken.

Full council debates

13. If a petition contains 10,000 signatures or more, it will be debated by the full Council unless it is a petition asking for a senior council officer to give evidence at a public meeting. This means that the issue raised in the petition will be discussed at a meeting which all councillors can attend. If you wish to suggest questions to be asked at the meeting, contact Frankie Belloli (see below for details) not later than three working days before the meeting.

14. The Council will decide how to respond to the petition at this meeting. They may decide to take the action the petition requests, not to take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate, or to commission further investigation into the matter, for example by a relevant committee. The petition organiser will receive written confirmation of this decision. This confirmation will also be published on our website.

Officer evidence

15. Your petition may ask for a senior council officer to give evidence at a public meeting about something for which the officer is responsible as part of their job. For example, your petition may ask a senior council officer to explain progress on an issue, or to explain the advice given to elected members to enable them to make a particular decision.

16. If your petition contains 1,000 signatures or more, the relevant senior officer will give evidence at a public meeting of the council's overview and scrutiny committee. See Council directors for a list of the senior staff who can be called to give evidence. You should be aware that the overview and scrutiny committee may decide that it would be more appropriate for another officer to give evidence instead of any officer named in the petition - for instance, if the named officer has changed jobs. Committee members will ask the questions at this meeting, but you will be able to suggest questions to the chair of the committee by contacting Frankie Belloli (see below for contact details) up to three working days before the meeting.

E-petitions

17. The Council operates a facility for e-petitions to be submitted and "signed". 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 (a maximum of three months will be allowed). When you create an e-petition, it may take five working days before it is published online. This is because we have to check that the content of your petition is suitable before it is made available for signature.

18. If we feel we cannot publish your petition, we will contact you within this time to explain. You will be able to change and resubmit your petition if you wish.

19. Once an e-petition has closed for signature, you will receive an acknowledgement within 14 days. A petition acknowledgement and response will be emailed to everyone who has signed the e-petition and elected to receive this information. The acknowledgment and response will also be published on this website.

How do I 'sign' an e-petition?

20. You will be able to see all the e-petitions currently available for signature. When you sign an e-petition you will be asked to provide your name, postal address and a valid email address. When you have submitted this information, you will be sent an email to the email address you have provided. This email will include a link which you must click on in order to confirm the email address is valid. Once this step is complete your 'signature' will be added to the petition.

What can I do if I feel my petition has not been dealt with properly?

21. If you feel that we have not dealt with your petition properly, the petition organiser has the right to request that the Council's relevant overview and scrutiny committee review the steps that the Council has taken in response to your petition.

22. The Committee will consider your request within 30 days of receiving it. Should the Committee determine we have not dealt with your petition adequately, it may use any of its powers to deal with the matter.

23. Once your request has been considered, the petition organiser will be informed of the results within seven days.

This scheme is subject to review by the Council.

Accessing this information in other formats

Please contact us if you would a copy of this scheme (or other documents relating to petitions) in a particular format suited to your needs e.g. large print - contact Frankie Belloli (see below for details). We are pleased to discuss arrangements which will make accessing or understanding our information easier for you, so do get in contact with us.

Contact details for Head of Executive and Committee Services

Frankie Belloli is Head of Executive and Committee Services, based at the Town Hall. Contact him as follows:

Telephone: 020 8871 6005
Email: fbelloli@wandsworth.gov.uk

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