What is a petition?

A petition is a written request for Chesterfield Borough Council to consider a particular matter or to take a course of action. Petitions can be co-ordinated by individuals or by local organisations. The council welcomes petitions as a valuable tool for people to let us know their concerns about the local community.

You can submit either a paper petition or an electronic e-petition, or you can run both petitions at the same time. You can download the paper petitions form below.

What can a petition be about?

A petition must relate to something that the council does or for which it has a responsibility. Alternatively, it should be relevant to some matter of major significance or general concern affecting the Chesterfield area. The council will be able to reject petitions they consider to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate.

Who can submit a petition?

Anyone who lives, works or studies in the local authority area, including under-18s, can sign or organise a petition.

Who should I send the petition to?

Petitions can be presented in the following ways:

• directly to Democratic Services at Chesterfield Town Hall
• to one of the council’s service departments
• delivered in person or by a councillor to a council meeting

What happens after I have sent my petition?

The council’s petition scheme guarantees your petition will be dealt with within specified timescales.

• the council will send an acknowledgement to the petition organiser within five working days
• a full written reply will be sent within 15 working days
• details of your petition will be available on the council website
• if a petition contains more than 1,000 signatures, it will trigger a debate by the full council at which the petitioner can speak
• if the petition contains at least 750 signatures, an officer of the council can be called to give evidence at a public meeting of the council’s scrutiny board

What happens if I disagree with the council’s decision?

The petition organiser has a right of appeal to the council’s scrutiny board if they feel that a petition has not been dealt with properly. The scrutiny board must then review the steps the council has taken to deal with the decision.

If our documents are not accessible to you, you can request a different format here.

Petition Template	(PDF 191 KB)
Chesterfield Borough Council Petition Scheme	(PDF 77 KB)

Live petitions

View live petitions here.

Completed petitions

Objection To Outline Planning Permission For Residential Development At Woodthorpe	(PDF 49 KB)
WVCG Petition Response	(Word 62 KB)
Ashgate Road Petition Response	(PDF 112 KB)
Response To Black And White Buildings Petition	(PDF 773 KB)