Council to redraft public spaces protection order after judicial review threat over foul language prohibition

Thanet District Council has rescinded a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which would have banned abusive language, after a threat of legal action from activist group the Free Speech Union (FSU).

This followed recommendations by the council's Overview and Scrutiny Panel that the proposed Alcohol and Antisocial Behaviour PSPO should be reconsidered after the FSU sent a letter under the pre-action protocol for judicial review.

The PSPO would have consolidated separate orders concerning alcohol and antisocial behaviour, and have applied to only parts of Thanet rather than the entire district as at present.

A council statement said: “Cabinet agreed that the drafting of this order could be improved to ensure that it is fully enforceable.”

Thanet had last week said the restriction in the PSPO “does not relate to swearing in general. It refers specifically to foul language that causes alarm or distress to other people.”

Heather Keen, Thanet’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said then: “Antisocial behaviour can have a detrimental effect on people’s enjoyment of the place where they live, if it isn’t dealt with. It can also spoil the experience of visitors and holidaymakers.”

The FSU cited numerous grounds of challenge in its letter, the first of which was that the PSPO consultation was procedurally unfair as it “consisted of a short online survey, where the initial text of the order was provided and participants were asked to indicate on a sliding scale whether they (strongly) agreed or (strongly) disagreed with each proposed prohibition.

“No evidence was provided for why the order or its prohibitions were being considered by the council. No reasoning was shown for why the council believed the measures within the order would address any mischiefs it had identified, or what these mischiefs were.”

It also argued the order unlawfully contravened Convention rights to freedom of expression and assembly and that it was ultra vires.

Mark Smulian