Petitions

What is a petition?
Guidelines for submitting a petition
What the Council will do once it receives the petition
How the Council responds to petitions
Submit your petition

The Council welcomes all petitions. We recognise that petitions are one of the ways in which people can let us know their concerns.

If you start a petition, you must have the consent of those who complete the petition to share their data. This is in accordance with the provisions of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For further information, please see the Information Commissioner's website.

What is a petition?

Any petition submitted to the Council must be signed by at least 250 people. These people must live, work, study or use the service(s) that the petition relates to within Cornwall. Any person that fulfils these roles can submit or subscribe to a petition. This includes those under the age of 18.

All petitions presented to Cornwall Council will be considered under our Petition Scheme.

Other procedures apply if your petition:

relates to a planning or licensing application
is a statutory petition (i.e. requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor)
is on a matter where there is already an existing right of representation or appeal

For further information please speak to our Petitions Office:

Telephone - 01872 323789.
Email – petitions@cornwall.gov.uk

Under the Council’s Petition Scheme, petitions will be considered for a Council debate if they:

relate to a Cornwall wide issue and
meet a certain threshold level

(A threshold level might be that the petition is signed by a specific number of people.) This is in accordance with section 6 of the scheme.

Guidelines for submitting a petition

Petitions submitted to the Council must include:

A clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition. This should state what action the petitioners wish the Council to take
The name, address and signature of any person supporting the petition. (Signatures are replaced by an email address for ePetitions)
A summary of any action taken to resolve the issue. This should include details of elected members that have been approached
Details of the petition organiser. (For example, name, contact address, telephone number and email address)
Petitions should relate to the functions of Cornwall Council. Although they will be considered if they relate to other public services which the Council has a shared responsibility for delivering. Where possible, petitioners are encouraged to use the Council's petition template.

What the Council will do once it receives the petition

All petitions sent or presented to the Council will receive confirmation of receipt. This will be within 3 working days of being received by the Council's Petitions Office. We will write to the lead petitioner within 15 working days of either receipt of a paper petition or the closure of an e-petition. Our response will explain what we plan to do with the petition.

Details of the petition will be published on our website. This will include wherever possible, all correspondence relating to the petition. (All personal details will be removed).

How the Council responds to petitions

How we respond will depend on what your petition asks for and how many people have signed it.

If you wish your petition to be debated at:

Full Council: your petition will need to relate to a Cornwall wide issue and be signed by 5,000 people or more
Ordinary petitions: all other petitions will be dealt with as an ordinary petition. An ordinary petition has 250 signatures or more but less than those detailed above. We will reasonably determine how to deal with your petition and advise you about what that process will be.

Please note: Cornwall Council will not take action on any petition which it considers to be:

vexatious
abusive or
otherwise inappropriate

Submit your petition

E-petitions

We welcome e-petitions created and submitted through any third-party website such as change.org:

E-petitions must follow the same guidelines as paper petitions
Petition organisers and subscribers must provide a valid email address. They should also indicate the period for which the petition will be open to subscription

Create an online e-petition using change.org