Petitions guidance

What is a petition?

Are there limits to what petitions can be about?

How do I submit my petition?

How will my petition be reported to the Council?

What is a petition?
A petition is a formal written request to change something, supported by the signatures of local residents or those directly affected. A member of the public or a Councillor can present a petition at a meeting of the full Council, the Cabinet or at any other Council committee meeting.

A petition can also be presented on the Council website through the ePetitions page.

You have the right to submit a petition to the Council about an issue for which the Council is responsible. Petitions that relate to issues of major significance or general concern affecting Wirral can also be presented to the Council.

In 2010 the Council introduced a new Petition Scheme, which can be viewed or downloaded from this page.

Wirral Council Petition Scheme

The scheme sets out:

• Guidelines for submitting a petition
• What the Council will do when it receives a petition
• How the Council will respond to petitions
• How the petition will be reported to the Council
• How to submit and sign an electronic on-line petition, known as an ePetition
• What you can do if you feel your petition has not been dealt with properly.

Are there limits to what petitions can be about?
Yes, your petition can be about any of our services or an issue that affects Wirral, but we cannot accept a petition:

• if it relates to an identifiable person
• if it might lead to the Council acting illegally
• if it clearly supports the financial interests of the person submitting the petition
• if it contains matters associated with political parties or organisations
• if it refers to a matter which is already the subject of legal proceedings
• if it is submitted from employees regarding terms and conditions of employment; or
• if it duplicates a previous petition submitted within the previous six months.

If your petition is about a particular licensing or planning application then it will be reported to the appropriate meetings that deal with the application.

How do I submit my petition?
Petitions can be submitted and signed in two different ways:

• Paper-based 'traditional' petition
• Electronic online petition, known as an ePetition

If you wish to submit a paper-based petition please complete the form that can be downloaded from this page and return it to Committee Services Section, Department of Law, HR and Asset Management (full address shown on the form).

Paper petition form [pdf 12KB)

Paper petition form [Microsoft Word 12 KB]

If you wish to start an ePetition please go to the
ePetitions page where you can find further information and complete a simple on-line form to submit your petition.

How will my petition be reported to the Council?
All valid petitions received will be referred to the relevant Chief Officer for investigation, in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders. The Chief Officer will be responsible for ensuring that the petition is responded to and taken into account in the decision making process as appropriate. If the petition cannot be complied with within a reasonable time, the Chief Officer will submit and report upon the petition to the next convenient meeting of the appropriate Committee.

They will advise the lead petitioner, who will be entitled to address the Committee on the subject of the petition for a period of up to five minutes. All valid petitions received will also be reported for information to the next available meeting of the Council.

Unless your petition is asking for a senior officer to give evidence at a public meeting, if it contains at least 1500 signatures it will be debated by the full Council. The lead petitioner will be allowed to speak to the petition, which will then be debated by the Council for a maximum of 15 minutes.

The Council will decide how to respond to the petition at this meeting. They may decide:

1. to take the action the petition requests
2. not to take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate, or
3. to commission further investigation into the matter, for example by a relevant committee.

Where the issue is one on which the Council's Cabinet is required to make the final decision, the Council will decide whether to make recommendations to inform that decision.

Your petition may ask for a senior Council Officer to give evidence at a public meeting about something for which the officer is responsible for as part of their job. If your petition contains at least 750 signatures the relevant senior Council Officer may be called to give evidence at a public meeting of the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee.