http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SOxonGreenBelt/

When you reach the e-petition page, it does require you to enter some sort of name and a correct email address, plus your postal address and postcode. The email and postal addresses are not made public.

After you enter that info, the e-petition system sends you an email message with a new URL to enter into your browser, and after that you have actually signed the petition. Your name only gets put onto the list of signatories after the second step.

At the end of the petition time (August 2008 in this case) then Downing Street sends all signatories a message giving the government's reason's for either doing something or not taking any notice of what the public wants. The main thing is to have 1000s of people signing to register how important the Green Belt is to us.

If you do all of the above but you don't receive the all important email message from the e-petition system, there are possibly two reasons:
1) The petition server is busy, so try again in 5 to 10 minutes;
2) Someone who uses the same email address as yourself, for instance another family member, has already signed the petition. It is the email address that is checked, not the name entered. You can look through the names already signed up, but when the number of signatories reaches 500, only the most recent 500 names are shown.

The government will not take any notice of just 300 people signing, so we really do want you to take just a few minutes to sign up. It's easier than filling in a Parish Plan Questionnaire, so what are you waiting for!