anyone know how I should do this petition?

[SJD]

Wondering if anyone can help me with how I should approach this.

I live in a block of flats, that is accessed down a side street. the side street is 1 car length away from traffic lights, and drivers dont realise that the side street is there, so the junction is always being blocked. not too bad when you want to pull out of it, as eventually someone will let you out, but when you need to pull in, there's 3 lanes of traffic to cross, and people dont realise where you're going and honk and get annoyed.

Atm the council is doing works on the road outside, so I'm thinking we write to them w a petition asking them to put a keep clear outside our side street, while they're on site anyway, getting ppl in the flats here to sign it, as well as people in some offices accessed by the same street.

So, how do I approach it, do I write a letter "Dear Mr Council, ....I want this, this is why... etc" detailing why its necessary and why I think they should do it now, and attach a sheet of signatures, or should it be about 3 lines summarising it "we the undersigned request that you install a keep clear outside our street so we can access our residence/place of work"

I hope this makes some sense! :s

What do you think? I havent done a petition since I was in school, and that was more the 3 lines thing...

Any input welcomed!

Thanks,
El

[GemB]

You could put

As you may have noticed the traffic in the area makes it difficult and possibly dangerous to get home.
I need some backing from local residents to get something done about it.

Could you please sign the petition below, which I shall be presenting to the council

PETITION HERE

you could also maybe think of getting a local councilor involved they're usually very good

Hope this helps

Gem

[nattynetty]

It could be worth contacting your local councillor initially to discuss it - if it's clear that it causes traffic congestion (which if you're waiting to turn into a blocked road I'd imagine it would do) you might be able to get them on your side without the need for a petition. However I'd be amazed if they'd be able to do anything so quickly to take advantage of the current roadworks, my experience is that everything has to go through so many hoops at the council that if you're successful it'll get scheduled for later in the financial year perhaps.

Good luck and good on you for wanting to do something about it

[ldw]

It could be worth contacting your local councillor initially to discuss it - if it's clear that it causes traffic congestion (which if you're waiting to turn into a blocked road I'd imagine it would do) you might be able to get them on your side without the need for a petition. However I'd be amazed if they'd be able to do anything so quickly to take advantage of the current roadworks, my experience is that everything has to go through so many hoops at the council that if you're successful it'll get scheduled for later in the financial year perhaps.

Good luck and good on you for wanting to do something about it

I agree with NattyNetty and doubt anything will happen quickly but you should definitely go for it! It might be easier to go to your local town hall first or ring them and ask who you need to contact regarding the issues, at least then any letters won't be sitting on the wrong person's desk for months Try to find out a name as well rather than just a department and always try to deal with them directly.

Follow up phone calls with letters if you feel they're necessary and if you're not happy with the response then definitely go to your local councillor as NattyNetty suggests.

At least, this is what I'd do anyway

Good luck!