Petitions

Petitions

The petitions committee considers petitions raised by local residents or organisations, which relate to either:

• Council services or activities, or
• the general wellbeing of the East Lothian Community

The committee usually meets four times a year, and is chaired by the Provost.

If you are planning to start a petition you are encouraged to use the online e-petitions. However, a full paper based petition service is also available.

Information, guidance and contact information is detailed below.

What is an e-petition?

One of the easiest and most popular ways for members of the public to engage in the democratic process is to sign a petition. An e-petition is an online method of petitioning your local Council to take action on issues or services that it has the power or duty to change and for bringing issues to the attention of our Councillors. An e-petition is set up by filling in a simple online form. Once a petition has been approved, other people can easily and quickly add their support to live petitions, until a specified closing date, via East Lothian Council website.

What can my e-petition relate to?

Please refer to our Criteria and Procedures and Frequently Asked Questions before creating your e-petition. These detail the criteria that require to be met along with other key information on the scope and purpose of petitions.

How do I start an e-petition?

You can submit and complete your e-petition online here. Your completed form will be submitted to the Democratic Services Team who may contact you to discuss your e-petition before it goes live on the website. It is the responsibility of the lead petitioner to promote their e-petition and to invite other people go online and add their support.

What information do I need to provide?

Your e-petition will need to include a title, a clear statement of the action you would like the Council to take, relevant background information, the actions already taken to resolve the issue and lead petitioner name and contact details. Your name will be displayed on the website as the lead petitioner. When completing the form you will be prompted to provide a start and end date for your e-petition. The start date should be at least 5 working days after you submit your form, to allow time for checking and processing. Your e-petition can be online for up to 3 months, but a shorter timescale may be more appropriate. You may wish to set your end date to coincide with a forthcoming meeting of the Petitions Committee. This should be 10 working days before the date of the Committee meeting. You can find out when the Petitions Comittee will be meeting here.

Who can sign an e-petition?

You do not have to be a registered user of East Lothian Council website to sign an e-petition; all we need from you is your name, address, postcode and country of residence (only your name and country of residence will appear on the website). Your details will only be held by East Lothian Council, who host the e-petition system. Your details will not be used for any purposes other than in relation to the e-petition that you have signed.

East Lothian Council monitors the site and duplicate, offensive and improbable signatures will be removed. You can only sign an e-petition once. Find out about current online petitions and sign here.

What happens once an e-petition has been submitted?

Your request for an e-petition will be considered by the Democratic Services Team and checked to ensure that it meets the criteria. You will be emailed within 5 working days to let you know the outcome. The Clerk to the Petitions Committee may contact you to discuss your petition before confirmation is emailed to you.

You will be advised of the date when your petition will be presented to the Petitions Committee and you will be invited to attend and present your petition in person. You will be given 5 minutes to present to the Committee members.

Confirmation of the outcome of the meeting will be emailed to you within 5 working days of the meeting.

Can I still submit a paper petition?

It is possible to have both an online and paper version of your petition. However, any duplicated name will be removed. Any signatures collected on a paper form should be submitted to the Clerk to the Petitions Committee by the date that your online petition closes.

If required, a fully paper based petition can still be raised. You can download and print the form here. Alternatively, you can contact the Clerk to the Petitions Committee and a form will be posted to you.