Purpose

A further legal assessment of
the terms as set out in the council’s Public Spaces
Protection Order agreed by Cabinet on Thursday 24 July 2025 has
been undertaken. As a result of the same, it is proposed that
certain provisions be refined in order to:
 
· 
Clarify language and ensure absolute precision in
drafting;
· 
Align terminology more closely with relevant
statutory provisions;
· 
Remove any possible ambiguity in the scope of the
restrictions; and
· 
Confirm, for completeness, that Articles 10 and 11
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) were considered at the
point of adoption of the Order.
 
The amendments do not
constitute a significant change from the Order as drafted and
agreed by Cabinet on Thursday 24 July 2025 but constitute only
minor points of clarification.

Decision

The Leader of the Council agreed the
following:
 
1. 
Minor amendments, in the form of points of clarification, to the
Public Spaces Protection Order agreed by Cabinet on Thursday 24
July 2025 - details of the amendments made are set out in the
officer report attached to this decision notice;
 
2. 
That the revised order shall be implemented at the earliest
possible date after the publication of this decision.

Reasons for the decision

The council has been subject to the threat of
legal challenge from the Free Speech Union (FSU), a private London
based company, with the stated objective of campaigning for free
speech. The FSU did not respond to the council’s consultation
on this year’s proposed PSPO, but on Wednesday 23 July 2025,
immediately prior to the meeting of cabinet on Thursday 24 July
2025, contacted the council with some suggested amendments to the
order giving the council no time to properly consider these.
 
Cabinet met on Thursday 24 July 2025 and,
having carefully considered the results of consultation as well as
all statutory and public law considerations, including Human Rights
Act considerations, decided to implement the Order that was
consulted on and as drafted.
 
The FSU contacted the council by letter again
dated Thursday 31 July 2025. This letter was sent under the
pre-action protocol for judicial review. In this letter it seeks to
challenge the council’s Public Spaces Protection Order on a
number of grounds which go well beyond the scope of the issues it
raised on 23 July. As a result, the council’s legal team has
carried out a further review of the Order and has proposed some
amendments which do not change the substance of the Order in any
way but do provide further clarity and greater legal precision in
relation to the proposed restrictions.

Alternative options considered

The Leader considered whether to agree to all
of the proposed amendments, some of the amendments or none of them.
The Leader took the decision to agree to all of the amendments. He
agreed with the legal view that they constituted minor amendments
that did not change the substance of the order but did provide
further clarity. He rejected the option not to amend the proposed
amendments on the basis that this could leave the council
vulnerable to successful legal challenge by the FSU. Similarly he
rejected the option to refer the matter back to Cabinet to consider
reversing its decision. This option would also leave the council
vulnerable with police and enforcement officers without the tools
to properly address the significant issues of anti-social behaviour
in the restricted areas. This in turn would leave residents exposed
to the types of behaviour many described in response to the
consultation and which the PSPO seeks to address.