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Petitions Scheme

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 requires that the Council adopt a Petitions Scheme explaining how the Council will deal with any petitions it receives. The Council adopted its current Petition Scheme on 19 May 2010 and it comes into effect from 15 June 2010. The operation of the Petition Scheme will be reviewed on a regular basis.

• Dover District Council Petitions Scheme pdf 66kb

How do I submit a petition to the Council?

Dover District Council welcomes petitions and recognises that petitions are one way in which people can let it know their concerns. All petitions sent or presented to the council will receive an acknowledgement from the council within 10 working days of receipt. This acknowledgement will set out what the council plans to do with the petition.

Any person who lives, works or studies in the Dover District Council area, including those less than 18 years of age, can organise a petition or be a petition signatory.

• Create a New Petition Online

• Sign an Existing Petition Online

All paper petitions under this petition scheme should be submitted to:

The Democratic Services Manager

Dover District Council

White Cliffs Business Park

Whitfield

Kent CT16 3PJ

If you would like to present your petition to the council, or would like your district councillor or someone else to present it on your behalf, please contact a member of the Democratic Support Team on 01304 872304 at least 10 working days before the meeting and they will talk you through the process.

What are the guidelines for submitting a petition?

All petitions submitted to the council MUST include:

• A clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition. It should state what action the petitioners wish the council to take; and

• The name, postal address and signature of any person supporting the petition. For e-petitions there is a requirement to supply a valid e-mail address.

Petitions should be accompanied by contact details, including a postal address, for the designated ‘Petition Organiser’. The Petition Organiser is the person the council will contact to explain how it will respond to the petition. The contact details of the petition organiser will NOT be placed on the website. If the petition does not identify a Petition Organiser, the council will contact signatories to the petition to agree who should act as the Petition Organiser.

What issues can be the subject of a petition?

Your petition must be relevant to some matter in relation to which the Council has functions or which affects the area of the Council or part of it, or the inhabitants of the area or some of them.

The Council works with a large number of local partners and where appropriate it 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 is in conflict with council policy), then we will set out the reasons for this to you. You can find more information on the services for which the Council is responsible on this website. 

Petitions that are considered to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate will NOT be accepted. The Council will make a judgement on whether a petition is vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate when considering the circumstances of the individual case. For example, the type of petition may be considered inappropriate include those relating to matters which are part of on-going legal proceedings or which target individual members of a community.

If a petition applies to any of the following matters other procedures will apply and it will not be considered under this petition scheme:

(a)   Any matter relating to a planning decision (including about a development plan document or the community infrastructure levy);

(b)   Any matter relating to a licensing decision;

(c)   Any other matter relating to an individual or entity in respect of which that individual or entity has the right of recourse to a review or right of appeal conferred by or under any other enactment. This includes:

• Statutory petitions (such as requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor); or

• Matters where there is already an existing right of appeal (such as council tax banding and non-domestic rates).

What will the Council do when it receives my petition?

The Council’s 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;
• Consider the petition at a council meeting;
• Holding an inquiry into the matter;
• Undertaking research into the matter;
• Holding a public meeting into the matter;
• Holding a meeting with petitioners;
• Refer the petition to an overview and scrutiny committee or another committee of the Council for consideration;
• Providing a written response to the petition organiser setting out the Council’s views about the request in the petition; and/or
• Take any other action that it considers appropriate including taking no further action.

In all cases you will receive a formal response to the petition.

Full council debates

If a petition requests a full council debate and it contains 1,600 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.

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

Your petition may ask for a senior council officer to give evidence at a public meeting of the council 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.

If your petition contains at least 800 signatures or more, the relevant senior officer will give evidence at a public meeting of either the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee or the Scrutiny (Community and Regeneration) Committee.

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

If you feel that we have not dealt with your petition properly, the petition organiser has the right to request that the council’s Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee review the steps that the council has taken in response to your petition. It is helpful to everyone, and can improve the prospects for a review if the petition organiser gives a short explanation of the reasons why the council’s response is not considered to be adequate.

The Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee will endeavor to consider your request at its next meeting, although on some occasions this may not be possible and consideration will take place at the following meeting. Should the committee determine the council has not dealt with your petition adequately, it may use any of its powers to deal with the matter. These powers include:

• Instigating an investigation;
• Making recommendations to the Cabinet; or
• Arranging for the matter to be considered at a meeting of the full council.

What Petitions has the Council received?

Contact Scrutiny

Telephone: 01304 872304

E-mail: scrutiny@dover.gov.uk