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Landowners should have strategy for dealing with protests to avoid damage to property, says expert


Having a strategy for dealing with protests can help landowners avoid protestors occupying and possibly damaging their property, an expert has said.

New Government guidance on dealing with unauthorised and illegal encampments (13-page / 99KB PDF) makes it clear what options are open to local authorities should protestors occupy their property, property law and litigation expert Rebecca Jones of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said.

However, she said that landowners should put plans in place to stop protestors occupying their land at all.

"The guidance focuses on methods of prevention," Jones said. "The key is advance preparation of paperwork and the agreement of protocols so swift action can be taken if necessary, rather than wait for land to be occupied and damage to be caused first."

The new guidance sets out the various powers available to local authorities and the police to tackle unauthorised encampments. Local authorities can, for example, obtain court injunctions to prevent vulnerable areas of land from being used for unauthorised camping or obtain a possession order from the courts to remove trespassers. Local authorities also have new rights to issue stop notices to prohibit planning breaches with immediate effect. The police also have powers under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act to require trespassers to leave a site they are occupying and taken any property or vehicles they have with them.

Consistent with its overall recommendation of planning in advance, the guide advises local authorities to take a number of steps to assess where any areas of land are "particularly vulnerable to unlawful occupation/trespass", establish the status of the land and who the landowner is. It also encourages councils to look into whether any local byelaws or other "special rules" apply to the land and whether they relate to occupation or trespass activity.

Procedures and processes should also be put in place by local authorities to help facilitate police liaisons on the issue of unauthorised encampments and for decisions to be taken about what action to take to tackle the problem, it said.

The guide also recommends that local authorities work with landowners to "physically secure vulnerable sites where possible".

Property law and litigation expert Melissa Thompson of Pinsent Masons said that the guidance should be considered in conjunction with the growing body of case law on trespass and unauthorised occupation. A recent article co-authored by Thompson published in the Estates Gazette (3-page / 2.14MB PDF) provides a summary of the latest main principles in this area.

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