Petitioning council

Find details on preparing and lodging a petition to council.

A petition is:

  • a formal written request that can be used to lobby council
  • signed by at least ten (10) people who support the request
  • a mechanism to seek action from council when all other means or avenues to resolve the issue have been exhausted.

You should contact council for items like:

  • having some potholes in your street repaired
  • having an overhanging tree cut.

For these type of items, you should lodge a request for operational work.

Matters for petitions

Petitions may request:

  • the alteration of a general law
  • the reconsideration of some administrative decision.

People may lodge a petition regarding a matter in which they have an interest.

Petitions can also be used as a form of submission on active development applications during the public notification stage.

Note: The Planning Act 2016 requires that all submissions are listed on council's website. Council uses Development.i for this. All individual details in petitions used as a submission will become public via search engines.

Rules for preparing petitions

Petitions should:

  • be brief and to the point
  • be an original document. Photocopies will not be accepted
  • be legibly written or typed without erasures or changes
  • be polite and modest in their language
  • refer to a matter on which council has the power to act
  • contain the reasons for the petition and a request for action by council at the top of each page
  • contain a name and address of a lead petitioner. The lead petitioner will receive all correspondence about the petition. If no lead petitioner is identified, all correspondence regarding the matter will be sent to the relevant Divisional Councillor
  • be signed by a minimum of ten (10) people. These must be clearly written or printed and not pasted or fixed or transferred in any other way
  • not exceed 250 words in total.

A person cannot sign the same petition more than once. This sample petition (PDF, 26KB) may be used as a guide.

How to lodge a petition to council

Ensure you comply with all the rules and forward your petition onto your local Divisional Councillor, or post to:

The petitioning process

The petition will not be debated at an Ordinary Meeting if it is received at that meeting. The Chief Executive Officer will refer it to the relevant council Group for action and response.

The lead petitioner will be advised of the petition's presentation to council.