Petitions
Anyone can submit petitions to the council for us to consider.
Petitions must include:
- A clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition, and state what action you wish us to take
- The name, address and signature of anyone supporting the petition
- Contact details of the person organising the petition (these details will not be placed on our website)
Petitions that are considered to be abusive or inappropriate will not be accepted.
In the period immediately before an election or referendum we may need to deal with your petition differently. If this is the case we will explain the reasons and discuss the timescale with you.
Online petitions
Sign a petition
View all online petitions currently available for signature.
When you sign an online petition you will be asked to provide your name, address, postcode 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 that you must open in order to confirm the email address is valid. Once this step is complete your 'signature' will be added to the petition.
People visiting the online petition will be able to see your name in the list of those that have signed it but your contact details will not be visible.
To keep people informed about what we are doing in response to petitions we publish details of all petitions on our website unless this would be inappropriate.
Create a new petition
To create an online petition you must provide us with your name, postal address and email address. You will also need to decide how long you would like your petition to be open for signatures - most petitions run for 6 months but you can choose a shorter or longer timeframe up to a maximum of 12 months.
It may take 5 working days before your petition is published.
If we feel we cannot publish your petition we will contact you to explain why. You will be able to change and resubmit your petition if you wish. If you do not do this within 10 working days, a summary of the petition and the reason why it has not been accepted will be published under the 'rejected petitions' section of the website.
When a petition closes you will receive an email to let you know (within 10 working days of the end date). If you would like to present your online petition at a meeting of the council you must contact the council’s democratic services team within 10 working days of receiving your email, email democraticservices@harborough.gov.uk.
Paper petitions
Paper petitions can be sent to: Harborough District Council, The Symington Building, Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 7AG.
All petitions sent to us will receive an acknowledgement within 10 working days. This will explain what we plan to do with the petition and when you will hear from us again. It will also be published on our website.
You can present your petition to be debated at a Council meeting if the petition is signed by at least 200 people living or working in the District - we will let you know when this will take place. The petition organiser will be given 5 minutes to present the petition at the meeting and the petition will then be discussed by councillors for a maximum of 15 minutes. The Council will decide how to respond to the petition at this meeting, and the petition organiser will receive written confirmation of this decision. This will also be published on the Harborough District Council website.
You can also ask your councillor or someone else to present the petition on your behalf. If you would like your petition presented at a Council meeting, please contact the council's Democratic Services team on democraticservices@harborough.gov.uk, no later than midday 7 working days before the relevant meeting.
Responses to the petition may include:
- Taking the action requested and closing the petition
- Not taking the action requested
- Commissioning further investigation into the matter, e.g. by the relevant Scrutiny Panel
If the issue is one where the Cabinet needs to make the final decision, Council will decide whether to make recommendations to inform that decision.
View paper petitions we have recieved.
What happens to your petition
Our response to your petition will depend on what it asks for and how many people have signed it. Our response may include:
- Taking the action requested and closing 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 consultation
- Holding a meeting with petitioners
- Referring the petition for consideration by our Scrutiny Panels
- Calling a referendum
- Writing to the petition organiser to set out our views about their request
If we can do what your petition asks for, the acknowledgement we send you may confirm that we have taken the action requested.
If your petition needs more investigation we will explain the steps we plan to take.
If relevant, we will tell you if there is already a way for you to raise an issue (such as appeals or complaints) that you can follow. For more information, email democraticservices@harborough.gov.uk.
Petitions about alcohol related crime and disorder
If your petition is about crime or disorder linked to alcohol consumption we will consider:
- Placing restrictions on public drinking in the area
- Imposing an alcohol disorder zone.
The council's response to your petition will set out the steps we intend to take and the reasons for taking this approach.
Anti-social behaviour
We will consider petitions about anti-social behaviour with other local organisations to identify what action can be taken. We may also alert the crime and disorder reduction partnership and crime and disorder overview and scrutiny committee to the issues highlighted in the petition.
If your petition is about something that we do no control we will consider making comments to the relevant organisation on behalf of the community.
Appeals
If you feel that we have not dealt with your petition properly you can request that our Scrutiny Panels review this (only the organiser of the petition can request this). The petition organiser should give a short explanation of the reasons why our response is not considered to be acceptable.
Whenever possible the relevant panel will consider your request at its next meeting – if not possible it will be considered at the following meeting.
Once the appeal has been considered the petition organiser will be informed of the results within 5 working days. The results of the review will also be published on our website.
If it is found that we have not dealt with the petition properly the panel can start an investigation, make recommendations to the council’s Executive or arrange for the matter to be considered at a meeting of the full council.