Marches, parades and static demonstrations: guidance

2: Overall framework

2.1 Marches and parades legislation

The current framework under which marches and parades are facilitated by local authorities was established in 2006 after a comprehensive review and report by the late Sir John Orr. The resultant Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 made amendments to Section V of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. The key aspects of the legislative framework – which are explored in more detail at Section 3: Key legislation – are that:

• Organisers must give the relevant local authority and Police Scotland notification of their intention to march at least 28 days prior to the march/parade
• The local authority must consider a range of issues when considering notification of a march/parade
• The local authority must take account of whether a march/parade may place too much of a burden on the police (note that this does not include the direct financial costs of policing the parade)
• The local authority must take account of the effect that any previous march/parade by the same organiser had on public safety issues and how far those involved had kept to any code of conduct or guidance
• The local authority must make public a list of processions in their area, including those which were prohibited, to allow residents and business to see which processions are happening and to plan accordingly if necessary

2.2 Static demonstrations

Static demonstrations are not clearly defined in legislation, but might be taken as any public assembly (Section 16 of the Public Order Act 1986 defines this as ‘an assembly of 20 or more persons in a public place which is wholly or partly open to the air’) which has gathered in pursuit of articulating views potentially protected by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on ‘freedom of assembly and association’. Organisers of such assemblies are not formally required to notify their local authority or Police Scotland of the intention to gather, although it is good practice for organisers to do so.

In particular, informing the relevant local authority and Police Scotland will allow them to help organisers plan their event in a way which will ensure safety and minimise the disruption to the community. Consideration of the impact on the broader community is central to balancing the rights of those participating in events and those in the wider community to go about their business as undisturbed as possible.

The overall framework described above was formally assessed in two independent reports to the Scottish Government in 2016 and 2020. Both reports found that the processes involved in notifying, accommodating, and carrying out marches and parades worked well, especially when good relations had developed between march organisers, local authorities and Police Scotland. This guidance draws upon these reports to highlight good practice, not least in building and maintaining good relations.