Local Petitions - Guidance Document

Campaigning Handbook

1 Version date: 18 November 2020

How to petition your local council Do you want to show your council how important an issue is to you and your local community?

Do you need councillors to give it some thought, respond to your points, or hold a debate on it?

Maybe your ambition is to persuade them not to remove a temporary cycle lane, but make it permanent instead?

Or perhaps you’d like speed limits lowered in your area, or money invested in a new greenway?

If so, petitioning your local council may be the way forward, and it can sometimes lead to the policy being reviewed and the change you hope to see.

As you’ll see from this guide, however, there’s no standard process for local petitions, and the protocols and criteria vary from council to council.

While the following advice isn’t guaranteed to reflect your own council’s approach exactly, and in a few cases won’t reflect it at all, it’s designed to give cycling advocates everywhere some tips about local petitions, potentially an effective campaigning tool.

Note: we are talking here about petitions relating strictly to matters within your local authority’s control or that of their partners. This is not about petitioning national government or parliament, for which other, distinct processes exist.

Contents What does the law say about local petitions? ..................................................................................3 How do I find out what my council’s approach to petitions is? .......................................................3 What if my council doesn’t support a petitions scheme? ...............................................................3 Where do I start?................................................................................................................................4 Am I an eligible petitioner? ................................................................................................................4 How do I create a petition and what formats can I use? .................................................................5 E-petitions hosted on a council’s website ....................................................................................5 E-petitions hosted on another platform ........................................................................................5 Paper...............................................................................................................................................5 What can I petition them about? ......................................................................................................6 Who can sign it? .................................................................................................................................6 How many signatures do I need? ......................................................................................................7 Promoting your petition .....................................................................................................................7 What will the council do? ...................................................................................................................7 A note on ‘scrutiny’ committees ....................................................................................................8 What can I do if I’m unhappy with the way my council has responded? ........................................9 Cycling UK’s tips (and warnings) .......................................................................................................9 Finally, but not to be ignored: General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) ................................9

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What does the law say about local petitions?

The simple answer is: not much nowadays.

In England & Wales, an Act of 20091 imposed a duty on principal local authorities2 to make, publish and comply with a scheme for handling petitions, and to provide a facility for making petitions in electronic form.

In England, petitions gathering a specified level of support (a maximum of 5% of the authority’s population but, ideally, less) triggered a debate of the full council, but sadly the Localism Act 20113 repealed these provisions on the grounds that petition schemes were “unnecessarily cumbersome and bureaucratic”.4 So, the law in England & Wales no longer requires local authorities to have a petition scheme, and the law in Scotland never has.

Note: petitions relating to local polls and referendums (some of which are advisory, others statutory) are another story.5

How do I find out what my council’s approach to petitions is?

Some councils’ websites make it easy for you to find out whether and if so how the council deals with petitions, with information typically set out under the legal and democratic services (or equivalent) section.

Searching for ‘petitions’, ‘e-petitions’ or ‘petitions scheme’ is a good start, or you can search against ‘get involved’/’have your say’ or similar. Another possible avenue is the council’s written constitution, which may have a section on petitions.

A good, but not infallible, sign that your council does not offer an e-petitions scheme is a quick web search for the name of your council + ‘petitions’. If all that comes up is ‘change.org’ or ‘38 Degrees’ petitions targeted at them, it’s not unreasonable to assume that they do not host a scheme themselves.

Don’t get bogged down in your search, though. We’ve found that information on petitioning is by no means uniformly obvious and sometimes all too easy to miss. So, if in doubt, just call or email the council to ask. Again, democratic services (or equivalent) are likely to be your best bet.

What if my council doesn’t support a petitions scheme?

If you discover that your council doesn’t host an e-petition facility or, worse, has nothing to say about petitions at all, you might like to take this up with your local councillor. Stress that lots of councils embrace them because they help alert elected members and officers to their citizens’ (and voters’) concerns.

In the meantime, there’s nothing to stop you from petitioning them anyway via an alternative eplatform, and/or in paper format.

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 County/county borough/district/London borough councils 3 Localism Act 2011, explanatory notes (see section 46). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/20/notes 4 DCLG. A plain English guide to the Localism Bill. 2011. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/584 730/Localism_Bill_guide_archived.pdf 5 House of Commons Library. Local Government: polls and referendums. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03409/ 1 2

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Where do I start?

Before you dive into a petition, spend a while thinking about whether there are any other means you could employ to persuade the council to take the action you want to see. Is it worth sounding out the relevant department directly/your ward councillor first?

If you conclude that petitioning is best for your cause, the following two steps should save you wasting time over a petition that’ll be returned to you with a polite rejection note.

1. Find your local authority’s set guidance and read it carefully. This Cycling UK guide is designed to help, but you still need to verse yourself in your council’s own procedures.

2. Whether or not you can find any online guidance, ring or email a council contact – an officer or a councillor. A good proportion of councils will advise you to do this anyway. If you already know the contact, all the better, but the authority’s website should tell you who that is.

What you ask is a matter for you, depending on how much you want to divulge and how clear their guidance is, but here’s a list of queries you might want to consider: • • • • • • • • • •

• •

Is anything going on behind the scenes that would make your petition redundant, too late or too early?

Is anyone else already petitioning on the same/similar subject?

Is the council the right target for your petition – i.e. can they do anything about it, or is the matter not within their remit?

Is the subject appropriate for a petition?

What’s the council’s stance on your chosen format (especially if you’re going down the paper or change.org type of route)?

Are the arrangements for voluntary groups the same as they are for individual petitioners?

What are the timeframes and deadlines?

How many signatures do you need to get something done? Is there any flexibility (e.g. if the matter only affects a small number of residents)?

How will your own and your signatories’ personal data be protected?

Will the council accept signatures from people outside the area? You’ll probably have to give a very solid reason for asking this – e.g. the matter relates to a tourist attraction.

Most councils will discount ‘remote’ signatories by default.

Does a petition have to be presented/sponsored by a councillor?

Who will be your first point of contact?

Ask your contact to put all the answers they’ve given in writing so that you’re clear.

Am I an eligible petitioner?

If you live, work or study in the area, then you probably are – but check the council’s guidance.

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How do I create a petition and what formats can I use?

E-petitions hosted on a council’s website The duty imposed on local authorities in England & Wales to host an e-petitions facility may be a thing of the past, but it left a useful legacy. We estimate that at least half of local authorities continue to maintain (or review and maintain) their electronic schemes, with some authorities in Scotland offering them too.

Councils who do this, in fact, usually welcome all petitions in any format, saying that it helps alert them to local concerns and gauges support for them.

If you’re using a council’s electronic facility, creating your petition should be extremely simple and self-explanatory. You’ll probably have to register as a site user.

You’ll need to supply: • • •

•

The name and contact details of the ‘lead petitioner’ (i.e. you). In the absence of a lead petitioner, the council will assume that it’s the first signatory.

A clear, concise petition title.

An equally clear, concise petition statement that you’re asking people to support, setting out: o the change you want made and why o any specific steps/action you want the council to take towards it (e.g. a debate/ evidence/explanation from a senior officer) Browsing other petitions already on the site might give you some pointers for wording.

Supporting documents/links

The council should acknowledge your petition and go away for a few days to think about it. They’ll either accept it and publish it on their website or tell you why not.

E-petitions hosted on another platform Some councils without an e-petition scheme explicitly refer potential petitioners to alternative platforms such as ‘change.org’, ‘38 Degrees’ or ‘Petition sign up, stand up’. In future, Cycling UK hopes to be able to host local petitions for you – watch this space!

Again, the site you choose should guide you through the process and, if you’ve spoken to your council already about your petitioning plans, you’ll know what you need to do.

Paper Whether or not they host an electronic facility, most councils offer advice on how to submit paper petitions and/or will supply a template that you can print off.

• •

Each page should be headed by the clear and concise statement that your signatories are supporting.

The page should also include a privacy notice (see ‘General Data Protection Regulations’ below).

Note: Some councils accept a mix of both electronic and paper petitions.

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What can I petition them about?

If you use a council’s e-petition service, your petition won’t go live until an officer there has checked the content against set criteria.

To avoid disappointment, make sure you understand the criteria in advance. This applies to all petitions – even if you’ve already collected and submitted thousands of signatures on paper or via an external site, your petition could still be rejected if it doesn’t follow the rules.

Councils who publish guidance tend to make their criteria very clear, almost always stipulating the sort of things you can’t petition them about rather that what you can.

Generally speaking, you are advised NOT to petition about: •

• • • • • • •

Planning, licensing and other matters with their own procedures. (That said, a few councils do seem to accept petitions on planning matters, but this is something to check with them first).

Decisions taken by council in the recent past (they’ll specify the time period) Matters similar to those covered in other petitions in the recent past (again, they’ll specify the time period).

Matters concerning individuals (elected members/officers etc) Breaches of codes of practice (dealt with in other ways) Matters sub judice (subject to any current court proceedings) Matters subject to a formal complaint or local ombudsman complaint; or a matter that is, in fact, more of a complaint than anything else (this will be dealt with in other ways) Commercially sensitive material

Also, it goes without saying that petitions must not: •

Be libellous, defamatory, offensive, abusive, vexatious, make false statements or criminal accusations.

And a petition will probably be thrown out if you try to advertise something or its goal is to gain or reduce support for a political party.

The best way to avoid pitfalls like this is to discuss your ideas for a petition with the correct contact at the council in advance, especially if you don’t have much, or any, written guidance to go on.

Note: your council may need to deal with petitions differently in the run-up to an election or referendum (they should explain this to you).

Who can sign it?

Almost always, councils stipulate that signatories must live, work or study in the area. It is very rare to see an age limit applied.

We don’t recommend inviting signatures beyond council boundaries unless you have a very good reason for it and have talked to your council first.

Also, the wider you go with your petition, the more likely it is that it’ll be circulated among national pressure groups and signed wholesale by people beyond your local authority’s geographical area.

If you haven’t come to some arrangement with your council about this possibility, it could weaken your impact. Local decision makers tend to be interested in what their electorate thinks, looking dimly on signatures from remote postcodes, no matter how many. All such signatures may well be discounted in any case.

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Bear this in mind if you use an external platform. Although many petitions on these national sites relate to local matters, they could attract signatures from beyond your patch, even if you only promote the petition locally. If the site’s FAQs don’t offer any help with this, contact them directly.

How many signatures do I need?

You may need a minimum number of signatures to render your petition valid, but this may not be very many.

Beyond that, the more signatures you collect, the more substantial your council’s response is likely to be. There’s often a set scale, ranging from simply taking note to what’s usually the top prize, a full council debate.

For the latter, you may need to collect signatures in their hundreds or thousands. The exact figure may or may not equate to a set percentage of your local authority’s population. (When the law required councils in England & Wales to host e-petitions, this figure had to be 5% or, ideally, rather less – some councils still stick to this).

If the change you want to see affects only a small number of residents, the council may be prepared to waive or lower the minimum number of signatures required, so this is something you’d want to talk to them about beforehand.

Promoting your petition Promoting your petition is entirely down to you and your supporters. If you don’t do this, it could just fizzle out with one signature (yours) or, at best, a small clutch (loyal followers’). This is not a good look (browsing through you council’s closed e-petitions may offer a sobering lesson here).

Certainly, if you’ve set your sights on a full council debate, don’t underestimate the work you’ll need to put in to gather the required number of signatures.

Use all the channels you can think of to attract signatories: • • • • • • •

Facebook Twitter Community websites Local discussion forums Social media Newsletters Local newspapers

If you’re not an expert in any of these fields, find someone who is.

Keep watch on your tally, maybe noting spikes and thinking about what lay behind them.

If someone launches a counter-petition directly opposing yours – always a risk with contentious causes – you’ll need to pull out all the stops, whilst still meeting the council’s criteria for valid signatures.

What will the council do?

Firstly, once your petition has closed/reached the desired number of signatures, a council officer will look it over and decide if it’s valid. This will probably involve checking for duplicate and suspicious signatures and discounting them. Signatures from people living outside the local authority’s electoral area will also be discounted unless you’ve pre-agreed with the council that they are legitimate.

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Once your council’s satisfied with the result, its response will depend on what you’re asking for and, as mentioned, possibly the level of signatures you’ve achieved.

Usually, councils who publish guidance outline a range of actions, saying that they could take one of more of them. These are the most common: • • • • • • • • • • •

Take no action and tell you why Officially note your petition and leave it at that Forward your petition to the relevant officer/ward councillor/committee chair/cabinet member/portfolio holder/scrutiny panel for a response Commission evidence/report from senior officer(s) to present to an appropriate (scrutiny) committee, something you may have requested, in fact Meet with lead petitioners Invite you or your nominee to address a council meeting for 3-5 mins or so Refer the matter to a relevant/partner organisation with or without a recommendation (e.g. if it relates to a local railway station) Public meeting Public inquiry Debate at a cabinet/full council meeting Just do what you’ve asked! Yay!

Evidently, meetings, reports, presentations and inquiries are the best mechanisms for exploring, say, what lay behind a council’s decision, why there’s been no progress on something etc. Use every opportunity to ask questions or, when more appropriate, prime a councillor to ask them for you.

As with all local campaigning and influencing, identifying sympathetic/friendly councillors and helpful officers, and developing a good underlying relationship with them, should pay off. Some councillors may agree to support, sponsor or even present your petition for you.

A note on ‘scrutiny’ committees A committee with ‘scrutiny’ somewhere in its title (or remit) consists of elected members responsible for scrutinising the work of the council. There may be several of these committees per local authority, each covering a different function of the council.

Scrutiny committees have the power to hold the council’s decision makers to account and, as such, may play a role in investigating and debating the merits of petition, the way it’s been handled, the response it received and how well it complied with the council’s stated policies.

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What can I do if I’m unhappy with the way my council has responded?

Most of the councils who produce detailed guidance will outline what you can do if you’re not satisfied with the way they’ve handled your petition. Scrutiny committees are often mentioned in this respect. Even if there is no specific guidance on this, there’s nothing to stop you complaining and expecting a review.

Cycling UK’s tips (and warnings) Above all, read your council’s guidance before you create a petition. Make sure you understand the process and the criteria that you, your signatories and your petition have to meet.

Call or email them beforehand too (if there’s no published contact, ask to speak to ‘Democratic Services’ or the likely equivalent).

Double-check that there isn’t another, better way of achieving your goals, e.g. contacting the relevant council service directly or your local ward councillor.

Browse existing petitions for pointers, and to see if anyone else is petitioning on the same or similar subject.

Be very clear about what you’re asking for or opposing in your wording.

Ask someone else to proofread your draft and make sure it is as clear and concise as it can possibly be.

Bear in mind that you won’t be able to change your statement after it’s been published. There may be a way of withdrawing your petition if you think better of it, but that’s not in your best interests.

Be aware of the regulations (GDPR – see below) on collecting and storing personal data, and comply.

Promote your petition vigorously.

Keep checking for petitions in outright opposition to yours. If one appears and suddenly attracts an unbelievably colossal number of signatures compared to yours, check in the council. Is the counter-petition being publicised by national pressure groups? Are all the signatures meeting the criteria?

Consider the merits of asking a councillor to launch/present/sponsor a petition for you.

Finally, but not to be ignored: General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) Petitions inevitably involve collecting and storing personal data from which individuals could be directly or indirectly identified, i.e. names, postal and email addresses. This means that you need to be GDPR-aware.

Consent is key. Make sure that those trusting you with their personal data know, clearly and unambiguously, how you are going to use it. In other words, your purpose must be transparent and explicit, and you need to stick to it.

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E-petitions hosted on your council’s website One of the advantages of using a council’s e-petition facility is that people signing your petition will also be consenting to the terms of a ready-made privacy notice/policy, which effectively covers GDPR for you. Don’t just tick the council’s privacy statement ‘I agree’ box – read the whole thing. (Note that some councils go into detail about GDPR in their petitions guidance, while others do not).

While your own details as lead petitioner will probably and quite reasonably be passed to various people in the council (and you’ll be consenting to this), your signatories’ details won’t be used for any other purpose than to check their postcodes to confirm that they live, work or study in the area (if that is required of them), to verify that the signatures are genuine, and to deduplicate.

Names, but no other details, will be published on the website.

Other platforms External platforms will likewise expect both you and your signatories to consent to a privacy policy/notice. It will probably tell signatories that their personal details (and any comments they’ve made) will be shared with the person who initiated the petition who may, in turn, choose to share them with the intended decision maker. Again, don’t just tick the box – read the whole thing.

In fact, you will probably have no choice but to share your signatories’ personal data with the intended decision maker so that they can verify your petition. This means that the council could, quite reasonably, ask you for access to the administrator’s full view, rather than limited the public view.

Paper On paper petitions, you’ll need a privacy notice on every page, i.e. a written declaration in clear and plain language explaining what you’ll do with the personal data you’re collecting. Your supporters will then know what they’re consenting to if they sign up. Once you’ve handed over the petition, the council’s GDPR policy will kick in too, so find out in advance how they’ll process the data and how long they’ll store it. If you don’t like the sound of this, don’t launch (or sign) paper petitions.

Although our advice on GDPR is mainly aimed at our voluntary groups who process personal data for rides, events and membership purposes, it’ll give you more insight into the rules. https://www.cyclinguk.org/local-groups/advice-groups/gdpr-groups

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