Holding Public Processions (Parades)

Providing the council with notification of your intention to hold a procession or parade allows the Licensing Team to consult with the appropriate people and consider any arrangements that may need to be put in place to ensure the safe passage of your procession.

Your notification can be submitted by completing the  Notice of Proposal to hold a Public Procession [2MB] and emailing it to the Licensing Team and it must be received by the Council at least 28 days before your procession will take place.  Alternatively you can post your form but it will take longer to reach the team. In order that we can issue an order in plenty of time prior to your procession it is recommended that at least 3 months' notice is given of your procession, longer if it is a large procession likely to require a road closure. Please consult the guidance notes before completing your form. All forms are copied to Police Scotland and Roads Services for comments.

The Council's Roads and Transportation Services and Police Scotland will consider your responses and the risk assessment given on the notification form and suggest which conditions should be applied to your procession. The council has an approved framework of conditions which can be found in the downloads section of this webpage. You can expect that conditions 1-18 will be applied to your procession. As part of the risk assessment attached to the notification form you are asked to comment on whether conditions 19 and 20 should be applied. You will be contacted if a Safety Advisory Group meeting is required before permission can be granted.

You will be advised by the Licensing Team which conditions are suggested to be applied to your procession. If you disagree with any suggested condition the notification will be referred to the Licensing Committee and you will be given an opportunity to attend and make your case about which conditions should be applied. If you do not disagree with the suggested conditions an order imposing conditions on the holding of the parade will be granted using delegated powers.

The law in relation to the approval of processions, parades and marches was amended in 2007 following a review undertaken by the Scottish Parliament, which culminated in a series of recommendations being made with the intention of professionalising and modernising the way in which decisions about processions, parades and marches are taken. The recommendations were aimed to strike a balance between the rights of those who want to march and the rights of communities.

The council is required to facilitate processions and has very limited powers to prevent a procession from taking place and very limited powers to impose conditions on parades. In particular in terms of the legislation it would not be possible for the Council to prescribe what a particular procession should be comprised of.

The legislation provides that the only considerations to which the Council shall have regard when deciding whether to prohibit the holding of a procession or impose conditions on it are:

1. The likely effect of the holding of a procession in relation to:

• public safety
• public order
• damage to property
• disruption of the life of the community

2. The extent to which the containment of risks arising from the procession would (whether by itself or in combination with any other circumstances) place an excessive burden on the police.

3. Where the person proposing to hold the procession has previously held one in that area or the people taking part in the procession, or some of them, are the same persons as took part in one previously in that area, or some of them:

• whether the previous procession was held in breach of a prohibition order issued under Section 63 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 on its being held or of a condition so imposed on the holding of it;
• whether any guidance or code of conduct issued by the authority as to the holding of the previous procession or as to the holding of processions generally was followed; and
• the effect of the previous procession in relation to public safety; public order; damage to property and disruption of the life of the community.

Please note that the guidance for Scottish Local Authorities issued by the Scottish Government in 2006 Guidance on Public Processions (opens new window) states that all processions will cause some degree of disruption to communities and businesses. However, it goes on to state that the degree of disruption may not, by itself (or with other events) be enough to prevent people from holding a procession, or from placing conditions on it. Each local authority is required to consider the circumstances of each notification and assess how far the procession would affect the community or any individual or organisation who can reasonably be considered to be part of a community affected by the notification and attach weight accordingly. The local authority is required to consider whether the level of disruption which will or may be caused by a procession will be far greater than the right to free assembly.

Complaints about the way in which notifications of proposals to hold processions are processed should be made to the Licensing Team. These should be made in writing by email or letter providing full details of the nature of the complaint and sent to the Licensing Team using the contact details box.