Barriers Across Rights of Way - Pride 2018

The request was successful.

Dear Manchester City Council,

During the recent 2018 Pride Festival a number of streets in the Gay Village had public access restricted by the erection of barriers across public rights of way.

Could you please provide the following information:-

1. Please say what enforcement action was taken by the council to prevent, to remove, or cause to be removed, such barriers, and provide copies of any relevant reports or correspondence.

2. If no enforcement action was taken, please say whether legal advice was received by the council, from a person qualified to give such legal advice, that such non-enforcement was within the power of the council although it is contrary to the principles of law identified by Mr Justice Cranston in Mr B Herrick and Mrs D Herrick v Peter Kidner and Somerset County Council [2010] EWCH (Admin) 269 case Nos CO/9368/2009 and CO/9411/2009.

3. Please say (and provide a copy) whether the council’s Monitoring Officer made any report to the council regarding the legal implications of barriers placed across public rights of way during the 2018 Pride Festival.

4. A copy of any relevant Traffic Regulation Order and,

5. a copy of the confirmation by the Secretary of State of such order.

Yours faithfully,

Gerry O'Leary

Information Compliance, Manchester City Council

Dear Mr O'Leary
Re: Request for Information - Reference No: GAN/B4XDUF
Thank you for your request for information received by Manchester City
Council on 25 September 2018.
Please note that it may take up to 20 working days (23 October 2018) for
the Council to consider your request and to provide a formal response.   
If this timescale needs to be extended to consider an exemption you will
be notified and kept informed. 
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. 
Yours sincerely
Cieran Cassidy
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email:  [1][Manchester City Council request email]
Website:  [2]www.manchester.gov.uk
On 25 September 2018 at 10:04, Gerry O'Leary
<[3][FOI #521631 email]> wrote:

Dear Manchester City Council,

During the recent 2018 Pride Festival a number of streets in the Gay
Village had public access restricted by the erection of barriers across
public rights of way.

Could you please provide the following information:-

1. Please say what enforcement action was taken by the council to
prevent, to remove, or cause to be removed, such barriers, and provide
copies of any relevant reports or correspondence.

2. If no enforcement action was taken, please say whether legal advice
was received by the council, from a person qualified to give such legal
advice, that such non-enforcement was within the power of the council
although it is contrary to the principles of law identified by Mr
Justice Cranston in Mr B Herrick and Mrs D Herrick v Peter Kidner and
Somerset County Council [2010] EWCH (Admin) 269 case Nos CO/9368/2009
and CO/9411/2009.

3. Please say (and provide a copy) whether the council’s Monitoring
Officer made any report to the council regarding the legal implications
of barriers placed across public rights of way during the  2018 Pride
Festival.

4. A copy of any relevant Traffic Regulation Order and,

5. a copy of the confirmation by the Secretary of State of such order.

Yours faithfully,

Gerry O'Leary

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Manchester City Council

3 Attachments

Dear Mr O'Leary

Request for Information - Ref 324 GAN/B4XDUF

Thank you for your request for information, which was received by
Manchester City Council on 25 September 2018. The Council has considered
the information requested and is satisfied that it falls within the broad
definition of “environmental information” in the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR). This is because the closure of public highways is
an environmental consideration which will impact on the state of the
elements of the environment under Regulations 2(1). Traffic Regulation
Orders are included in measures and activities (c) affecting or likely to
affect the elements and factors referred to in paragraphs(a) and (b) as
well as measures or activities designed to protect those elements.

I set out below your request for information and the Council’s response

You have requested:

During the recent 2018 Pride Festival a number of streets in the Gay
Village had public access restricted by the erection of barriers across
public rights of way.
Could you please provide the following information:-
1. Please say what enforcement action was taken by the council to prevent,
to remove, or cause to be removed, such barriers, and provide copies of any
relevant reports or correspondence.
2. If no enforcement action was taken, please say whether legal advice was
received by the council, from a person qualified to give such legal advice,
that such non-enforcement was within the power of the council although it
is contrary to the principles of law identified by Mr Justice Cranston in
Mr B Herrick and Mrs D Herrick v Peter Kidner and Somerset County Council
[2010] EWCH (Admin) 269 case Nos CO/9368/2009 and CO/9411/2009.
3. Please say (and provide a copy) whether the council’s Monitoring Officer
made any report to the council regarding the legal implications of barriers
placed across public rights of way during the  2018 Pride Festival.
4. A copy of any relevant Traffic Regulation Order and,
5. a copy of the confirmation by the Secretary of State of such order.

In response:
1. Please say what enforcement action was taken by the council to prevent,
to remove, or cause to be removed, such barriers, and provide copies of any
relevant reports or correspondence.
The Council authorised the erection of temporary fences in the area of the
event for safety reasons and in order to facilitate the event. Therefore,
no enforcement action was taken. A copy of the Council's report Delegated
Approval for Traffic Regulation Order/temporary fencing and closure of a
park PRIDE 2018 authorising the erection of temporary fences is attached
below.

2. If no enforcement action was taken, please say whether legal advice was
received by the council, from a person qualified to give such legal advice,
that such non-enforcement was within the power of the council although it
is contrary to the principles of law identified by Mr Justice Cranston in
Mr B Herrick and Mrs D Herrick v Peter Kidner and Somerset County Council
[2010] EWCH (Admin) 269 case Nos CO/9368/2009 and CO/9411/2009.
The requisite legal advice is contained in the report attached. The
Council had the lawful authority to erect temporary fences in the area of
the event for safety reasons and in order to facilitate the event. A copy
of the Council's report authorising the erection of temporary fences and
explaining the legal powers of the Council is attached .
The case of Herrick v Kidner made it clear that a local authority can erect
fences if it has ‘lawful authority’ to do so. This could be ‘under a
provision of this Act or some other enactment’. The lawful authority in
this case is provided by the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

3. Please say (and provide a copy) whether the council’s Monitoring Officer
made any report to the council regarding the legal implications of barriers
placed across public rights of way during the  2018 Pride Festival.
All legal implications for the TTRO and the temporary barriers in order to
facilitate Pride 2018 are discussed in the delegated approval report which
is attached hereby. The decision has been made in accordance with the
Council's constitutional arrangements and there was no need for any report
to be submitted by the Monitoring officer to the council.

4. A copy of any relevant Traffic Regulation Order
Please see attached Pride Order 2018

5. A copy of the confirmation by the Secretary of State of such order.
The Council made the TTRO by using powers conferred upon it under section
16A of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 ("the Act"). This is the power
used by the Council, in the last few years. By virtue of 16B of the Act,
such an order can only be in force for three days. If any longer period is
required, then the Secretary of State should agree to such longer period,
before the order is made. Because every year the organisers of Manchester
Pride require a 4-day closure of some of the highways, in order to enable
them to clear litter and remove the equipment, the Council always obtains
the Secretary of State's consent for the extended period of operation of
the TTRO.

Unfortunately, this year the deadline to submit this application was missed
and although the request for the Secretary of State's consent was
submitted, it was too late. Nevertheless, this omission does not render the
TTRO invalid or ineffective, at least for the first three days of its
operation.

We will ensure that such an omission will never happen again in the future.

If you are not satisfied with this response you may ask for an internal
review. If you wish an internal review to be undertaken you should contact
the Democratic Services Legal Team, whose address is, PO Box 532, Town
Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA, email:
[Manchester City Council request email] in the first instance. A copy of
the Council’s access to information complaints procedure can be downloaded
from
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/d...
. If you do not have internet access and require a paper copy, please let
me know.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review process, you
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 01625 545 745

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely,
Kevin Gillham
Head of Citywide Highways

(See attached file: Delegated Approval Report MCC 2018.pdf) (See
attached file: 2018 Pride event site - Appedix 1.pdf) (See attached file:
MC00004408-Signed-16a Order Pride 2018-20180813-094625 (1).pdf)

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Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to our privacy notice at www.manchester.gov.uk/privacy for further information.

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. The full text of the Council's email disclaimer is available at http://www.manchester.gov.uk/emaildiscla....
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
Please contact [email address] with any queries.

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