Petitions to Stoke-on-Trent City Council received more than 10,000 signatures in 2025.

Twenty-one e-petitions were started on the council's website over the course of the year on subjects ranging from housebuilding on greenfield sites to reopening a former railway station.

The petitions received 10,787 signatures between them, with four getting more than 1,000 each.

The most popular petition of the year called for the council to commission an independent inquiry into the existence and handling of grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation in Stoke-on-Trent.

The petition said that similar inquiries in other parts of the country had 'revealed disturbing failings and helped ensure greater protection for vulnerable children and young people'.

A total of 1,812 people signed the petition, which was launched by former Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis.

This was enough to trigger a debate on the subject at July's full council meeting. But this ended in councillors voting against holding a local inquiry, saying that the national inquiry should be allowed to do its work first.

The city council's controversial draft local plan, which earmarks sites across the city for thousands of new homes, was the subject which inspired the most petitions.

Six of the top 10 most signed petitions of the year called for sites listed in the draft plan to be saved from development.

The most popular of these petitions, signed by 1,515 people, related to Green Belt land off Eaves Lane, in Bucknall, which is set to be allocated 1,139 homes.

Lead petitioner Naomi Clarke said that Green Belt land 'should only be built on under special circumstances' and that brownfield land should be developed first.

Petitions objecting to the development of land at Trentham and Packmoor received 1,434 and 1,130 signatures respectively.

Other petitions called for the reopening of Meir Station, public safety improvements in Weston Road, Meir, and a new skate park at Bucknall Park.

Under council rules, petitions which are signed by at least 1,000 people are debated at full council.

Petitions that receive at least 100 signatures but fewer than 1,000 are automatically referred to the relevant overview and scrutiny committee for consideration.

If a petition gets between 500 and 999 signatures the lead petitioner is allowed to address the full council for three minutes.

Most of the e-petitions started on the council website in 2025 received at least 100 signatures, although there were four which were not signed by a single person.

These were the top 10 petitions of 2025:

1. Grooming (Rape) Gang Independent Inquiry in Stoke-on-Trent- 1,812 signatures
2. Objection for proposed planning on Eaves lane REF BL5 – 1,515
3. Objection to proposed building on Trentham fields off A34 Ref BL2 – 1,434
4. Rejection of Packmoor Masterplan – 1,130
5. Keep Ball Green High school site for the public – 819
6. To implement speed cameras on Parkhall Road – 809
7. Opposition to parking permit enforcement on Stanley Road, Hartshill – 791
8. Oppose the development of Site BL1 in Lightwood – 736
9. Put Safety First on Weston Road – 599
10. Objection to Proposed New Housing Plan – off Brookwood Drive, Meir/Weston Coyney – 394