Start an e-petition or a referendum

E-petition

There are all sorts of things you might like to see in Apeldoorn. Or perhaps the council has plans that you feel should not go ahead. The Apeldoorn City Council’s online e-petition portal ensures that your petition goes through the correct process and helps you submit it to the right person or people at the right time.

Rules of the game

Would you like to submit a petition to Apeldoorn Town Council? If so, the following rules apply:

• You are a resident of the municipality of Apeldoorn or you have an interest in Apeldoorn.
• At least 600 people have signed your petition. This represents 0.5% of the number of eligible voters in Apeldoorn. If your petition receives 600 or more signatures, the Council Secretariat will contact you.
• Petitions from a commercial organisation and/or petitions that serve a commercial interest will not be considered
• Any topic that is ‘inappropriate’ or offensive will not be considered
• A matter that is the subject of legal or local authority proceedings will not be considered
• A matter that constitutes a complaint will not be considered. There is a complaints procedure.
• Grant applications are forwarded to the executive committee to be fully incorporated into the local authority’s budget cycle

Procedure

The local council will deal with your petition as follows:

• The municipal council’s executive committee will consider the petition. The executive committee consists of all the political group leaders and oversees all the council’s work. The procedure for dealing with petitions may vary depending on the subject. As the petitioner, you will, of course, always be informed of the presidium’s decision regarding the petition.
• The Presidium shall take a decision on how to proceed within two weeks of submission (excluding parliamentary recesses).

Online petitions:

• You can submit it online (via the Apeldoorn portal on petities.nl, where you can enter the date of submission yourself; for petitions submitted via other websites, you can send an email before submitting to gemeenteraad@apeldoorn.nl)
• You can submit them both online and ‘in person’, for example on a Thursday evening when the council is in session. If you wish to do so, please contact the Council Secretariat via gemeenteraad@apeldoorn.nl.
• You can explain this during ‘In conversation with the council’ on Thursday evening. Please note: the council’s executive committee sets the council’s agenda and must first approve the inclusion of your topic. Scheduling a topic may also take some time. If you wish to explain your petition, you can ‘in discussion with the council‘. Alternatively, you can contact the Council Secretariat directly: gemeenteraad@apeldoorn.nl.

Handbook

View the handbook on organising and supporting petitions

Referendum

In Apeldoorn, it is also possible to hold a referendum at the request of the people of Apeldoorn. This allows the public to express their views on a decision taken by the council. The procedure for requesting a referendum is set out in the Referendum Regulation 2005.

It is important that, within three weeks of the council taking a decision, a so-called preliminary request is submitted to hold a referendum on that decision. The request must be supported by a sufficient number of signatures, namely 5% of the total number of people eligible to vote in the most recent local council elections.

A formal request must then be submitted. The conduct of the referendum itself is similar to the standard electoral procedure.