Petitions

The Council welcomes petitions and recognises that petitions are one way in which people can let us know of their concerns. 

A petition is a formal request made to an organisation, containing many signatures in support of a specific request that is shared by a number of people or offering the same point of view.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council welcomes petitions from those who live, work or study in the Borough.  The Council's Petitions Scheme can be downloaded using the link to the right of this page.

A petition should include a brief title and a short statement covering the subject matter of the petition. The petition should clearly state what action the petitioner wishes the Council to take. In order to be considered, petitions must also clearly display the following:

• the name of the lead petitioner
• the contact address of the lead petitioner, to which all communications concerning the petition should be sent
• the name and address of any person supporting the petition
• Paper petitions should also include a signature

The petition should be relevant to a matter over which the Council has authority or provides a service.  Petitions may also be submitted on matters which affect the Borough.

How to submit your petition

Petitions can be presented to a meeting of the Council. The dates and times of these meetings can be found here.  If you would like to present your petition to the Council, or would like your Councillor or someone else to present it on your behalf, please contact the Democratic Services team at least 10 working days before the meeting to discuss the process.

As an alternative, you may choose to send your petition to the Council Offices for attention.

The petition should be sent to:-

The Head of Democratic Services
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Council House
PO Box 18
Solihull
B91 9QS

 

What will the Council do in response to your petition?

If your petition has received 2,000 valid signatures or more it will be scheduled for a Council debate and if this is the case we will let you know whether the debate will happen at the meeting to which you present the petition, or a later meeting of the Council.

If your petition has less than 2,000 valid signatures it can still be presented to a Council meeting but it will not automatically trigger a debate at the Council meeting, and it is likely to be referred to the appropriate Committee or Scrutiny Board for consideration.

All petitions sent or presented to the Council will be acknowledged within10 working days of receipt. This acknowledgement will explain what the Council plans to do with the petition.

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