Guidance on submitting an e-petition to Merton Council
What is a petition?
A petition is a request for some form of action signed by more than two people. We welcome petitions signed by those who live, work or study in Merton. A petition can relate to anything that will improve the economic, social and environmental well being of Merton.
How do I sign an e-petition?
Signing a petition is a straightforward process. You can view all the petitions currently live on our system here. To sign a petition you will need to provide your name, an email and postal address and respond to a confirmation email.
How do I set up an e-petition?
To set up a petition you will need to register on the system. This means providing an email and postal address and responding to a confirmation email.
If you apply to set up a petition then we will regard you as the petition organiser. This is the person we will communicate with and send our response to the petition to. Anyone who lives, works or studies in Merton can set up a petition but there are some restrictions on the sort of petitions we will accept on the e-petition system.
A petition should set out clearly what action the petitioners would like to see take place. The clearer the statement is the easier it will be for us to respond in the right manner. You will need to give your e-petition a title; a short statement and you can also provide a fuller explanation. In addition you can add links to documents, other websites and images. You will also need to tell us if your petition is electronic only or electronic and paper based.
Once you have applied to set up a petition we will contact you within five working days to discuss your petition. We will let you know if we can accept your petition and ask you how we can best respond to the issue you have raised. If you would like advice on how to set out your petition please contact us at Getinvolved@merton.gov.uk or 020 8545 3896.
Do you accept every petition you receive?
There are some petitions we cannot accept on our e-petition system. Occasionally we, like all public institutions, receive correspondence from individuals who make persistent complaints, and can be abusive or offensive to staff and other residents. Petitions that we consider to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate will not be accepted.
By a vexatious petition we mean an obsessive pursuit of something unreasonable or unrealistic, or something reasonable made in an unreasonable manner. Inappropriate petitions may include those relating to an individual’s personality or personal life, matters which are part of ongoing legal proceedings, or matters that do not clearly relate to the economic, social and environmental well being of Merton.
We will also not accept petitions that call for the same action as another petition already being considered. This includes e-petitions live on our e-petition facility or a petition that has been received in the last 12 weeks.
During election campaigns we are subject to strict guidelines on what information we can publish. This may affect the e-petitions we can accept and publish on our website and in some cases may cause a delay in when we can respond to the petitions we receive.
What happens once my petition is live?
Once your petition is live on our system you will have up to 12 weeks to collect signatures. Collecting signatures is the responsibility of the petition organiser. You will be sent a link to the petition that can be easily circulated online. You may wish to consider posting on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, contacting the local press, contacting your local resident associations, and contacting your local councillors.
You can also print a paper version of the petition to collect signatures by hand. Please follow the instructions on our e-petition system to do this.
How do I submit my e-petition?
Submitting an e-petition is simple. When you have finished collecting your signatures you click on the submit button and you will receive a confirmation that we have received your e-petition.
When considering when to submit your petition you may wish to check if there is a deadline in place for a decision to be taken that you wish to influence. For example if you wish to influence a consultation taking place you should ensure your petition is submitted before the deadline for responses to that consultation. If you have not submitted your petition after 12 weeks then we will contact you to make sure you still wish to submit the petition.
What happens after I submit my e-petition?
We will identify the best person to respond to the petition. If the petition relates to a particular part of the borough we will notify the councillors for that area that a petition has been received. We aim to set out our response to all petitions within 20 working days, however in some cases it may take longer than this. We will inform the petition organiser if there is any delay in responding to the petition.
The way in which we will respond to your petition will depend on what you have asked us to do. You may wish to consider what kind of response you would like us to make and include that in your petition.
A response to your petition could include any of the following:
- Taking the action you have asked us to
- Taking action that is different but achieves the same desired results
- Writing to you to explain why we will not take the action
- Considering your petition at a meeting of the council or at a council committee meeting
- Calling a senior officer or cabinet member to account at a council committee meeting
- Organising a public meeting or a meeting with the petitioners
- Considering your petition as part of a wider consultation, for example consultations on planning and licensing applications
- We may want to conduct further research or consult with others
- We may call a referendum
- We may approach another organisation on your behalf to ask them to respond to the petition
Whatever our response is we will make sure it is set out in writing, sent to the petition organiser and will be available for all to see on our e-petition facility. If we will be discussing your petition at a meeting we will notify the petition organiser of the date, time and venue for the meeting as soon as possible. We will also tell you how you can get involved at that meeting. Once the meeting has taken place we will write to you to let you know what happened at the meeting.
Some petitions will relate to matters that are subject to existing procedures. This includes petitions relating to planning decisions, licensing decisions and matters where individuals already have a right of appeal, such as school place allocations. We are happy to receive petitions on these matters but we will need to treat them in accordance with the relevant rules for these matters. For further details please contact us.
After you receive our response you will have an opportunity to comment on what we have said. Your views will be shown on the e-petition system.