Organising A Petition

Petitions are useful for:

Raising awareness.
Showing the number of people that oppose the development.
A means of identifying potential supporters and campaign helpers, and mobilising them.

Aim for a large number of signatures – try to get at least 1,000 (preferably more). As well as speaking to people you know, ask them to speak to people that they know. Go out canvassing – in shopping centres, at bus stops, knock on doors. Take both your petition and standard letter with you and ask people to sign them. Engage people in conversation, ask those that want to do more to help / attend the planning meeting etc. for their phone numbers and e-mail address so that you can contact them (see also our section on mobilising people). If there are any local businesses or services that are adversely affected, get them to circulate petition pages for their staff etc. to sign.

Remember, the local council cannot refuse an application simply because a lot of people object to it. Your petition is an addition to your letters of objection, your planning case against the proposal, letters to councillors and your local MP.

Don’t forget, McDonald’s always submits two identical planning applications, and your petition should show both application numbers. The objection at the top of the petition should be repeated on all pages to show quite clearly that those who signed knew what they were objecting to. See the example petition.

Your local council may have a deadline by which a petition needs to be submitted to be accepted. Contact the planning committee clerk at your local civic centre to find out the procedure for submitting a petition.

Please note, you must not pass any names and addresses of those who signed your petition to any other parties without the permission of the person(s) concerned. You could end up falling foul of the Data Protection Act. We strongly recommend that you don’t get involved in any requests for contacts / copies of your petition – no matter who asks. Anyway, you’ve got better things to do than ring people up to seek their permission to pass on their details.