Starting a new petition
If there is an issue in your area that you and other people in your community wish to raise with the council, which is not already the subject of a petition already submitted, you can start a new petition.
You can either collect signatures on a paper petition or register the petition online and collect signatures electronically, as an e-petition.
There is a template below that can be used as the format to print out and fill in for a paper petition.
Please ensure that you are clear about the topic of your petition – that is what it is about – and what action you, and your fellow signatories, want the council to take.
Also you must identify the lead petitioner and give their contact details.
The lead petitioner is usually the person who started the petition and the reason that we need their contact details is so that we can let them know what has happened to the petition and what action will be taken.
Electronic petitions (e-petitions)
You can register a petition online, as an e-petition, rather than on paper. This way, your petition and supporting information can be made available to a potentially much wider audience, giving you the opportunity to gather more names to support the petition.
Handing in a paper petition
Once completed, a paper petition can either be:
- given to your local ward councillor(s) (you can find out who your ward councillor is on the borough councillors’ page; or
- by calling 01256 844844) for presentation at a Council meeting; or
- delivered it to Committee Services, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Civic Offices, London Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 4AH.
What happens next?
The petition is about something to do with one of our services or functions then it will be passed to the relevant Cabinet member, whose portfolio covers the topics concerned. With planning, licensing or other regulatory or standards issues, the petition will usually be in response to a consultation from the council and the petition will be handled in the same manner as other responses to the consultation.
A decision on whether any action can be taken on the issue raised and what action will be taken will usually be made within three months of a petition being handed in. Urgent issues may be quicker and a longer time may be agreed between the Cabinet member and the petitioners for more complex issues.
If the issue is something that is not a matter under the borough council’s control, we will pass the petition to the relevant organisation to deal with the matter and will ask to be kept up to date on what happens to it.
The petition scheme
The council has a detailed policy setting out how we handle petitions. The full document can be downloaded below.
