Petitions

Petitions are one way in which people can let us know their concerns. We welcome petitions that have been signed by at least ten people who live, work or study in the New Forest.

Before you submit a petition, you should read the full petition scheme in the Council's Constitution.

Submitting a petition

Petitions can either be submitted in hard copy form or be created, signed and submitted online via the ePetitions system below. This allows petitions and supporting information to be made available to a potentially much wider audience than a traditional paper-based petition.

All petitions submitted to the council, whether online or in hard copy form, must include both of the following:

• a clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition, it should state what action the petitioners wish the council to take

• the name, address and signature of any person supporting the petition, these should be people who live, work or study in New Forest.

If the petition applies to a planning or licensing application, is a statutory petition (for example requesting a referendum on having an elected mayor), or on a matter where there is already an existing right of appeal, such as council tax banding and non-domestic rates, other procedures apply.

Petitions should be accompanied by contact details, including an address for the petition organiser. This is the person we will contact to explain how we will respond to the petition. The contact details of the petition organiser will not be placed on our website.

If the petition does not identify a petition organiser, we will contact signatories to the petition to agree who should act as the petition organiser.

To submit an ePetition, follow the “Submit a new ePetition” link below.

Hard copy petitions can be submitted to: The Service Manager, Democratic and Support Services, New Forest District Council, Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, SO43 7PA

All hard copy petitions will be added to ePetitions.

ePetitions
Title Respondents Deadline to sign by
Car parking charges 2024 10 Finished

Supporting an e-Petition

To support an existing e-Petition choose an e-Petition from the list above and add your name, address and email address. For more information you can follow our Guidance for Signing an ePetition.

To find out more about the issue, see the supporting information, provided by the lead petitioner, attached to the e-Petition.

Petition responses

An acknowledgement will be sent to the petition organiser within ten working days of receiving the petition. It will let them know what we plan to do with the petition and when they will hear from us again.

If the petition has enough signatures to trigger a full council debate or a senior officer giving evidence, the acknowledgement will confirm this.

We will not take action on any petition which we consider to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate. We will explain the reasons for this in our acknowledgement of the petition.

Our response to a petition will depend on what a petition asks for and how many people have signed it. Our response may include:

• taking the action requested in the petition

• considering the petition at a council meeting

• holding an inquiry into the matter

• undertaking research into the matter

• holding a public meeting

• holding a consultation

• holding a meeting with petitioners

• referring the petition for consideration by the appropriate review panel

• calling a referendum

• writing to the petition organiser setting out our views about the request.

The petition organiser will be notified of any action taken and the reasons for it.

The details of all petitions and our responses will be published on ePetitions, except in cases where this would be inappropriate.

Full council debates

If a qualifying petition contains more than 1,700 signatures (approximately one per cent of the district's population), it will be debated by the full council. This is unless it is a petition asking for a senior officer to give evidence at a public meeting.

Council meetings take place approximately every two months. Dates and times can be found on our Meetings Calendar.

We will endeavour to consider the petition at the next meeting. On some occasions this may not be possible, and consideration will then take place at the following meeting.

The petition organiser will be given five minutes to present the petition at the meeting. The petition will then be discussed by councillors for a maximum of 15 minutes.

Senior officer evidence

Your petition may ask for a senior council officer to give evidence at a public meeting about something for which the officer is responsible as part of their job.

If your petition contains at least 850 signatures (approximately 0.5% of the population) and gives grounds for your request, the relevant senior officer will give evidence at a public meeting of the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Senior staff who can be called to give evidence are:

• the Chief Executive

• the Strategic Director or Assistant Directors

• the service manager as considered appropriate by the chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

The Overview and Scrutiny Panel may decide that it would be more appropriate for another officer to give evidence instead of any officer named in the petition.

We will decide how to respond to the petition at this meeting. The petition organiser will receive written confirmation of this decision. This confirmation will also be published on ePetitions.

If you would like to present your petition to the full council, or would like your councillor or someone else to present it on your behalf, contact Democratic Services on 023 8028 5072 at least ten working days before the meeting to discuss the process.

Disclaimer

This Council accepts no liability for the petitions on these web pages. The views expressed in the petitions do not necessarily reflect those of the providers.