Petition: Ottery St Mary No New Year's Day Parade

Ottery St Mary Town Council – No East Devon Hunt New Year’s Day Parade

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Letter

Dear Councillors

I am writing to you because I would like you to discourage the East Devon Hunt from meeting in your town on New Year's Day. We are aware that the hunt meets in an area not controlled by you. However, there are actions you can take, if you choose to.

These actions are set out at the bottom of this email, following an explanation of the legal situation and health and safety risks that should concern you.

Background

As you will likely be aware, hunts often gather in public spaces and on public roads. Sometimes they will parade through the street and gather at a meeting point, such as a town square or a pub. Some hunts employ marshals who close the roads and direct traffic around or away from the hunt. In some cases, these are untrained individuals, rather than experienced traffic marshals.

Members of the public often attend to watch the gathering, along with the riders, huntsman and hunts staff. Hunts include up to several dozen horses and roughly 30-40 hounds. Hounds are often not kept on leads.

Some hunts serve and/or sell alcohol to the hunt supporters and members of the public. There have been reports of people at these events consuming alcohol and subsequently riding their horse, quad bike or other vehicle.

In addition a variety of dangerous incidents have been reported, including dangerous driving, vehicles blocking the road, horses on the wrong side of the road and children placed on horseback with no helmet or other protective equipment.

The law

These events engage a number of pieces of legislation:

Road closures:

Section 137 of the Highways Act 1980 states that “if a person, without lawful authority or excuse, in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway he is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine..” Whilst section 137 permits obstruction of a highway “lawful excuse”, in other words, if the obstructor(s) has/have permission such as a Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders, then no offence will be committed. If the obstructor(s) do not have a lawful excuse, an offence is committed.

Section 130 of the Highways Act also provides that it is the duty of the highway authority to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which they are the highway authority. In addition, any council may also assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway in their area for which they are not the highway authority. It is also the duty of a council who are a highway authority to prevent, as far as possible, the stopping up or obstruction of the highways for which they are the highway authority, and any highway for which they are not the highway authority, if, in their opinion, the stopping up or obstruction of that highway would be prejudicial to the interests of their area.

Health and Safety

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1972 (the “HSWA”) provides that “it shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety”.

The HSWA will apply to any hunt which employs staff. A hunt does not need to be a limited company in order to employ people, but this will be something to consider on a case-by-case basis depending on the make-up of the hunt. A person (or employer) who fails to discharge their duty under section 3 commits an offence.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999  create further requirements for employers, including the requirement to assess risks to members of the public arising out of or in connection with the conduct of the organisation and the requirement to make and give effect to appropriate measures for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventive and protective measures.

Loose hounds

The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 creates the offence of being in charge of a dog who is dangerously out of control. A dog is considered to be dangerously out of control if there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that a person or assistance dog will be injured by them.

The Highways Act 1980 makes it an offence to allow dogs to stray on or at the side of a highway.

The Dog Control Orders (Prescribed Offences and Penalties, etc.) Regulations 2006 (DCOR) and the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, (ABCPA) grant powers to local authorities to make dog control orders creating offences of failing to remove dog faeces.

Section 27 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 provides that “a person who causes or permits a dog to be on a designated road without the dog being held on a lead is guilty of an offence”.This is not a blanket requirement to keep dogs on leads; rather, it provides that dogs must be kept on leads on “designated roads”. Designated roads are defined as “a length of road specified by an order on behalf of the local authority in whose area the length of road is situated”. Whilst section 27 further provides that the orders made by local authorities can exempt dogs who were “at the material time in use under proper control for sporting purposes”,  the hounds are not being used for a “sporting purpose” while at the meet (which would be the “material time”).

Sale of alcohol:

Under the Licensing Act 2003, a Temporary Event Notice (“TEN”) is required to carry out a “licensable activity”, which includes selling alcohol or serving alcohol to members of a private club, for a period not exceeding 168 hours (7 days). Carrying out a licensable activity without a licence, or otherwise selling alcohol by retail without authorisation, is a criminal offence. A person found guilty is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or an unlimited fine or both.

A TEN may be obtained by application to the local authority no later than 5 working days before the event begins.

Horses

The Highways Act 1980 makes it an offence to deposit dung on a “made-up carriageway”.This means any road which has been made suitable for use by vehicles. Further an offence will be committed if a person using the highway is injured or endangered by that horse.

The Town Police Clauses Act 1847 creates a number of offences, including riding furiously any horse or leading, riding or fastening any horse so that s/he stands across or upon any footway.

Riding a horse while under the influence of alcohol is a criminal offence. The prohibition is contained within the Licensing Act 1872. This provides that “Every person . . . who is drunk while in charge on any highway or other public place of any carriage, horse, cattle, or steam engine, or who is drunk when in possession of any loaded firearms, ... shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [level 1 on the standard scale], or in the discretion of the court to imprisonment ...”

Next steps

As you can see there is a real risk of legal violations at an event of this nature, with the consequences potentially being extremely serious. For this reason we urge you to use your powers to ensure such offences do not take place, including warming the venue and organisers.

In the case of Kent and Newman (Claimants) and Arun District Council (Defendant) and Fontwell Racecourse (Interested Party) and Animal Protection Agency (Intervener) 2015, the court decided the following:

The Council is a public body; it has a duty to do what it properly can to prevent the commission of offences by legitimate means. Warning an organisation such as the racecourse that its premises might be hosting an event at which unlawful activity might take place is an entirely proper course to have taken.

Further, the council has a positive duty to protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which they are the highway authority and any highway for which they are not the highway authority, if, in their opinion, the stopping up or obstruction of that highway would be prejudicial to the interests of their area.

The Council should write to the hunt, putting these points:

The meet should take place elsewhere. However, if the hunt insists on meeting in Ottery St Mary, they must apply for a road closure. 
The hunt must not cause an obstruction in the roads
The hunt should not allow hounds to run loose on the roads.

The council should also write to the police to ask them to invite the hunt to a Safety Advisory Group meeting to ensure the safety of everyone who attends the meet, including any protesters.

We would be grateful if you could inform Action Against Foxhunting and Protect the Wild of the action/s you intend to take.

Thank you for your attention

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