Policy paper

Noise-related provisions: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 factsheet

Updated 20 August 2022

1. What are we going to do?

The Act widens the range of situations in which police officers can place conditions on protests in England and Wales, allowing officers to set conditions to prevent the noise generated by the protest in question having a significant impact on people or cause serious disruption to the activities of organisations in the vicinity.

This measure has nothing to do with the content of the noise generated by a protest, just the level of the noise. Protests by their nature often raise difficult and controversial issues faced by our society, and we fully support the right of individuals to express their feelings and concerns about such issues.

2. How are we going to do it?

The Act will allow police to place conditions on public processions, public assemblies and one-person protests where it is reasonably believed that the noise they generated may result it serious disruption to the activities of an organisation carried on in the vicinity or have a significant impact on people in the vicinity of the protest.

Serious disruption to the activities of an organisation is defined as including where it may result in persons connected with the organisation not being reasonably able, for a prolonged period of time, to carry out their activities within the vicinity of a protest. The Home Secretary has a power, by regulations, to further define the meaning of serious disruption and provide further clarity to police in the use of these powers.

We will work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing and other policing partners to produce guidance on the use of these new measures and other powers included in the Act.

3. Background

Recent months have shown that certain tactics employed by some protestors have had a hugely detrimental effect on the hardworking majority seeking to go about their daily lives. As a result of the disruption these protests have caused, the National Police Chiefs’ Council have expressed concerns that existing public order legislation is outdated and no longer appropriate for responding to the highly disruptive tactics used by some groups today.

These measures will improve the police’s ability to manage such protests, enabling them to balance the rights of protestors against the rights of others to go about their daily business, and to dedicate their resources to keeping the public safe.

These powers do not silence protestors or curb freedom of expression. The power to set noise-related conditions will only be used in the most exceptional of circumstances, where police assess the noise from protests to be unjustifiable and damaging to others.

When deciding whether to impose such conditions, police will need to consider a range of factors, including:

• who is impacted, for example whether a protest will affect vulnerable groups such as children, or the number of people impacted
• the duration of the impact, for example a protest stretching over several days may be more likely to meet the threshold than a short but noisy protest
• the intensity of the impact, for example an extremely noisy protest outside a double-glazed office building is unlikely to have the same intensity or cause the same disruption as a similarly noisy protest outside a care-home, small GP surgery or school
• the rights of protestors and those impacted

In all scenarios the police will need to act in a manner that is compatible with the human rights of protestors (including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly) and those impacted by the protest.

4. Frequently asked questions

4.1 Who can impose noise-related conditions?

For an upcoming protest, the Chief Constable (or Assistant Chief Constable if delegated) of the relevant force will make a decision regarding whether the threshold is likely to be breached.

For a protest already taking place, the most senior officer at the scene will decided on if the threshold has been breached. Depending on the circumstances, the senior officer will typically be an Inspector, Chief Inspector or Superintendent.

4.2 Will these measures ban protests for being too noisy?

No, the police will only be able to impose conditions on unjustifiably noisy protests that may have a significant impact on others or may seriously disrupt the activities of an organisation.

The threshold for being able to impose conditions on noisy protests is appropriately high. The police will only use it in case where it is deemed necessary and proportionate.

4.3 Will these measures stop protestors from expressing their views?

Absolutely not. This measure has nothing to do with the content of the noise generated by a protest, just the level of the noise. Protests by their nature often raise difficult and controversial issues faced by our society, and we fully support the right of individuals to express their feelings and concerns about such issues.

4.4 Why target one-person protests?

This particular measure only relates to the noise generated from a single-person protest and does not introduce any other situations in which police can place conditions on single-person protests.

However, through the use of affordable amplification equipment, a single protestor is easily capable of generating the same amount of noise as a large protest.

4.5 What kind of scenarios could police impose noise-related conditions in?

Decisions on when to apply these powers will be an operational matter for the police. For example, we have all seen the detrimental and disruptive effects egregious noise generated by the “Freedom Convoy” protests has caused to the residents of Ottawa in Canada. The constant honking of truck horns by protestors has led to a Canadian court imposing a 10-day injunction banning such actions. In circumstances such as these, these new powers would be extremely useful.

Other, hypothetical scenarios include:

• a noisy protest in a town centre may not meet the threshold, but a protest creating the same amount of noise outside a school might, given the age of those likely to be impacted by the protests
• a noisy protest outside an office with double glazing may not meet the threshold, but a protest creating the same amount of noise outside a care home for elderly people, a small GP surgery, or small street-level businesses might, given the level of disruption likely to be caused by the protests
• a noisy protest that only lasts a short amount of time may not meet the threshold, but a protest creating the same amount of noise over several days might, given the extended duration of the protest

4.6 How often do the police impose conditions on protests?

Data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council suggests that, out of over 2500 protests between 21 January and 21 April 2021, the police imposed conditions no more than a dozen times.

Additionally, data from the Metropolitan Police provided to HM Inspector of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) shows the force imposed conditions on public assemblies 15 times in 2019 and 6 times in 2020.

4.7 Don’t the police already have the power to arrest noisy individuals for a breach of the peace?

Whether a breach of a peace is anticipated or has happened will depend on the situation. Breach of the peace gives police a power of arrest, however such arrests do not lead to punitive action, unlike a conviction for breaching a condition placed on a protest which is a criminal offence. Placing conditions on protest is a much less intrusive way of preventing disruption that arresting people for breaching the peace.