Petitions

If you live, work or study in Leicestershire you can submit a petition or e-petition and we will look into it. Your petition should relate to an area that the council has authority over. 

What to include

Your petition should be clear and concise – setting out the issue you’re concerned about and what action you would like us to consider.

Signatories to a petition need to provide their name and address (including email address if it is an e-petition).

You should include your contact details as the ‘lead petitioner’, so we can communicate with you on behalf of all the people supporting your petition.

Submitting your petition

You can submit paper petitions to:

Head of Democratic Services
Chief Executives Department
County Hall, Glenfield
Leicestershire
LE3 8RA

Petitions cannot be submitted to either the Cabinet or to full Council unless they relate to a matter that is on the agenda for a meeting, or they have gathered over 10,000 signatures. A petition which gathers over 10,000 signatures will trigger a debate at a Council meeting attended by all County Councillors – known as ‘full Council’.

Acknowledging a petition

We’ll send an acknowledgement to the lead petitioner within 10 working days of receiving the petition, and will advise what happens next. 

If we can do what your petition asks for, the acknowledgement may confirm that we've taken the action requested and the petition will be closed.

If this is not possible our response to a petition will depend on what a petition asks for and how many people have signed it:

  • Petitions relating to an issue in a single electoral division will be responded to by the Service Director, following consultation with the Cabinet Lead Member and the Local Member.
  • Petitions with more than 1000 signatures; affecting two or more electoral divisions, can be considered by the relevant overview and scrutiny committee.

At the meeting

  • The lead petitioner or County Councillor will be asked to read the wording of the petition and state the number of people who have signed the petition.
  • The Chairman of the meeting may invite the lead petitioner to explain the background of the issue where they think it would be helpful.
  • Please note that speakers cannot join in the following debate at the meeting.

Councillors will then discuss the issues raised:

  • they may come to a decision there and then
  • or ask the relevant Chief Officer to respond in writing
  • or refer the petition to another body or to a Chief Officer and request a report back.

Data Protection

The contact details provided to us won't be published and we won't contact you unless you're the Lead Petitioner or we need to clarify matters regarding the specific petition you’ve submitted/signed. The data will solely be used for verifying that the petition contains the required number of signatures and that those who have signed the petition live, work or study in Leicestershire. As per our Retention Schedule the data won't be retained longer than 4 years after the Committee meeting that the petition was considered at. We'll take all reasonable steps to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. Your details won't be passed on to any third party.

For further information on the Council’s approach to data protection please see our Data protection and privacy section.

Further reading