Petitions
Guide to submitting a new petition
Who can submit a petition?
Any resident or persons who work or study in Mid Devon can submit a petition. The council will respond to all petitions that have at least 25 signatures.
How to submit your petition
Petitions can be submitted in the following ways:
- by post to Member Services, Mid Devon District Council, Phoenix House, Phoenix Lane, Tiverton EX16 6PP or
- by email to Committee@middevon.gov.uk
What should a petition contain?
Petitions must include a clear and brief paragraph about the subject matter and what action the council is being asked to take. They must also include the name, address and signature of each person supporting the petition.
Petitions should also indicate the contact details (including an address) of the person who organised the petition. This is the person we will contact to explain how we will respond to the petition.
Petitions will be rejected if they are defamatory, frivolous or offensive.
Electronic petitions
As with paper petitions, the petition organiser will need to provide their name, postal address and email address. He/she will also need to indicate how long the petition should be open for signatures. Most petitions run for six months, but you can choose a shorter or longer period.
When an ePetition is created, it may take five working days for the Council to publish it on the website. This is so we can check that the content is suitable before making it available for signature.
When you sign an ePetition you will be asked to provide your name, postcode and a valid email address. When you have submitted this information you will be sent an email to the address you have provided.
What action will the council take in response to your petition?
We will send an acknowledgement to the person who organised the petition within ten working days of receiving it. This will indicate who is dealing with the petition.
Petitions concerning planning or licensing applications and those relating to Council Tax banding and business rates will be dealt with differently from other petitions. There are different procedures for these issues and these are explained elsewhere on the website.
Details of all the petitions submitted to the council will be published on the website. If the petition is about a matter that a different council or organisation is responsible for, we will consider what the best course of action is - which may be simply forwarding the petition on to the responsible authority and we will inform the organiser of this.
If a petition has more than 1,500 signatures it will be discussed at a meeting of the Full Council which all councillors can attend. The person organising the petition will be invited to present it (five minutes) and the councillors will then decide what action to take.