e-Petitions
E-Petitions FAQs
Who can sign an e-Petition?
An e-Petition can be signed by any person of any age who lives, works or studies in Test Valley.
If you sign an e-Petition on this website, you will be required to provide us with basic personal information (an email address and an address including postcode) to enable us to verify the "signatures" collected are genuine. Your name (but no other details) will be published on the e-Petition website. We will only use the information you provide for this purpose.
You can only sign an e-Petition once. The list of signatories will be checked by officers and any duplicate signatures or obviously frivolous responses will be removed.
Who can submit an e-Petition?
An e-Petition can be submitted by a person of any age who lives, works or studies in Test Valley. To submit an e-Petition you will need to be a registered user. Registration is a simple process that just requires you to provide us with a few details in case we need to contact you about the e-Petition.
From time to time, the council may also submit an e-Petition itself to gauge public feeling on a particular issue.
How do I start an e-Petition?
On the e-Petitions homepage, select the ‘submit a new e-Petition’ option. You will be prompted to enter a title which the system will automatically check against existing e-Petitions to allow you to see if a similar one has been considered recently.
You will then need to fill in the online form. This will be submitted to the Petition Officer who may contact you to discuss your e-Petition before it goes live.
What issues can my e-Petition relate to?
Your e-Petition should be relevant to an issue over which the council has powers or duties or over which it has shared responsibilities.
Your e-Petition may be rejected if the Petition Officer considers it:
- contains intemperate, inflammatory, abusive or provocative language;
- defamatory, frivolous, vexatious, discriminatory or otherwise offensive, or contains false statements;
- too similar to another petition submitted within the past six months;
- discloses confidential or exempt information, including information protected by a court order or government department;
- discloses material which is otherwise commercially sensitive;
- names individuals, or provides information where they may be easily identified, eg individual officers of public bodies, or makes criminal accusations;
- contains advertising statements;
- refers to an issue which is currently the subject of a formal council complaint, Local Ombudsman complaint or any legal proceedings
- relates to the council’s planning or licensing functions as there are separate statutory processes in place for dealing with these matters;
- does not relate to an issue upon which the council has powers or duties or on which it has shared
- delivery responsibilities.
During politically sensitive periods, such as prior to an election, politically controversial material may need to be restricted.
The council accepts no liability for the petitions on these web pages. The views expressed in the petitions do not reflect those of the council.
Privacy Policy
The details you give us are needed to validate your details but other than your name, no other details will be published on the website. This is the same information required for a paper petition.
What information should my e-Petition contain?
Your e-Petition will need to include:
- a title;
- a statement explicitly setting out what action you would like the council to take - a “call for action”, “debate at full Council” or “holding a senior officer to account”;
- any information which you feel is relevant to the e-Petition and reasons why you consider the action requested to be necessary. You may include links to other relevant websites;
- we will host your e-Petition for up to three months but would expect most to be shorter in length than this. If you require a shorter or longer period you need to notify the Petition Officer immediately after submitting your petition;
- as lead petitioner, your name will be displayed with your e-Petition on the website.
If you are having trouble submitting an e-Petition or would like further advice and information then please contact the Petition Officer and we will be happy to assist you.
How will my e-Petition be promoted?
Whilst the council will host e-Petitions on its website, it will not promote individual e-Petitions. It is therefore down to the lead petitioner to spread the word about their e-Petition in order to get as many people as possible to sign up. If this is not done then your e-Petition could receive no signatures.
Raising awareness of it could be done in a number of ways such as promoting it on local community websites, discussion forums or newsletters. All it takes is to give people a brief explanation of the issue and then direct them to the council’s website to sign up.
What happens when the e-Petition is complete and how is it submitted?
When the e-Petition reaches its closing date, you will no longer be able to sign it online. The list of signatories will be collated by the Petition Officer and you will be contacted regarding the submission of the completed e-Petition.
Can I still submit a paper petition?
Yes, you can still submit paper petitions according to the rules set out in the Council's Petition Scheme.
A petition may also gather names and addresses in both forms - you can have a paper version and an online version, although repeat names will be removed. Both forms should run for the same period of time and must be submitted together.
When submitting an e-Petition request, please let us know if you are running a paper petition as well.