About Online Petitions
Supporting or Commenting on a Petition Online
The ePetitions system allows you to support a petition by adding your name and address online. Information about the petition topic is provided to put the petition in context and help you decide whether to support it. You can also see who else has supported the petition (name and area only) or join in a discussion about it online.
Using the Internet to Petition the Council
Through the Online Petitions System you can post your petition on the Internet, rather than just on paper. This way, your petition and supporting information will be available to a potentially wider audience, giving you the opportunity to gather more names to support the petition.
A petition may gather names and addresses in both forms - you can have a paper version and an online version, although you should discourage people from joining both petitions. The recommended maximum time for an Online Petition is 6 months.
Each Online Petition has its own discussion forum, where supporters and visitors can discuss the petition and surrounding issues online. There is also space for supporting information, so that you can add any background necessary and put your petition in context.
How to Start an Online Petition
To start an Online Petition, follow these steps:
- Check the Council’s Guidance on Petitions in the Royal Borough of Kingston.
This provides information on the kind of issues that can be raised in petitions, what you should do before starting a petition, the form and content of a petition, how the Council will consider the petition and who to contact for further information. - Submit your Online Petition to the Council.
A staff member of the Council will contact you to confirm your details, and may ask you about the content of your petition. - If you have any queries, please contact:
Democratic Services
Guildhall
High Street,
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1EU
Telephone: 020 8547 5021
Email: epetitions@rbk.kingston.gov.uk
After the Online Petition is Submitted
After the petition has been submitted to the Council, you can return to this site to check its progress and also get feedback from the principal petitioner.
Privacy Policy
Only your name and area (neighbourhood) will appear on the website. The other details you give us are needed by the Council to validate your support. This is the same information required for a paper petition.
Your details will only be used by the Council and the International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) who host the ePetitions system, unless you have given permission for your details to be passed on to the principal petitioner. Your details will not be used for any purposes other than ePetitions, unless you have expressively given permission otherwise.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in any of the petitions or comments pages on this website are in no way the views of the Council or The International Teledemocracy Centre.
Glossary
General Terms:
epetition
A petition which collects names and addresses online, using this e-petitioning system.
Principal petitioner
The person who initiates the petition and decides when it is to be submitted.
The Council
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council.
Democratic Services
Democratic Services and Partnership is one of the four Departments in the Council’s Chief Executive’s Office. The Department’s main responsibilities include the operation and management of the Council’s decision making and political management processes.
Full Council
The Council is made up of 48 councillors representing 18 electoral Wards. All 48 Councillors meet together at meetings of Full Council six or seven times a year. At these meetings the overall policy of Kingston Council is decided and the annual budget is set.
Neighbourhood meetings
Neighbourhood Committees are made up of the Councillors representing the electoral wards in each Neighbourhood, responsible for providing many of the services in their area. Neighbourhood meetings are usually held every five/six weeks. Find out which Neighbourhood you live in.
Status of ePetitions:
Collecting signatures
An epetition that is live and collecting names and addresses online.
To be submitted
A petition that is no longer accepting names and addresses and is being prepared for formal submission to the Council; i.e. before the petition has been presented to Council.
Submitted
A petition that has been formally submitted to the Council and is under consideration.
Concluded petition
A petition that has been submitted to the Council, been considered and reached the point where no further action will be taken.
Not submitted petition
A petition that is no longer collecting names and addresses, and has not been submitted to the Council.
Credits
The International Teledemocracy Centre at Napier University and BT Scotland were the original co-developers of the e-petitioning tool.
The £80m ODPM funded National Projects programme aimed to bring together councils, central government, the private sector and others to define and deliver projects and national Local e-Government solutions.
If you experience any problems using the Online Petitions system, please email epetitions@rbk.kingston.gov.uk