MR JUSTICE NICKLIN Approved Judgment
MBR Acres Ltd -v- Curtin
of access to the highway that the First Claimant has is “ subject to the rights of the public ”. At its most prosaic, the right of access to the highway cannot be absolute because people leaving the Wyton Site would have to give way to traffic on the B1090. In heavy traffic, or if there was significant congestion or a traffic jam, a person exiting the Wyton Site might have to wait for some time before s/he could access the highway. Another example, directly linked to the protest activities, would be if the protestors organised a march or procession along the B1090 (with due notification being given to the police under s.11 Public Order Act 1986). For the time it took for the procession to pass the entrance of the Wyton Site, it would interfere with the First Claimant’s right of access to the highway. The First Claimant has no right to ask the Court to prohibit lawful use of the highway by the protestors on the grounds that it would interfere – for a short period – with the First Claimant’s right of access to the highway. Under s.12 Public Order Act 1986, if certain requirements are met, the police can impose conditions on processions. In that way a proper balance can be struck between the protestors’ right to demonstrate, and the First Claimant’s right of access to the highway. (3) Public nuisance 81. When these proceedings were commenced, it was an offence at common law to cause a public nuisance. From 28 June 2022, the offence of public nuisance has been put on a statutory footing in s.78 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, and the old common law offence has been abolished. The new s.78 provides: “(1) A person commits an offence if— (a) the person— (i) does an act, or (ii) omits to do an act that they are required to do by any enactment or rule of law, (b) the person’s act or omission— (i) creates a risk of, or causes, serious harm to the public or a section of the public, or (ii) obstructs the public or a section of the public in the exercise or enjoyment of a right that may be exercised or enjoyed by the public at large, and (c) the person intends that their act or omission will have a consequence mentioned in paragraph (b) or is reckless as to whether it will have such a consequence. (2) In subsection (1)(b)(i) ”serious harm” means— (a) death, personal injury or disease, (b) loss of, or damage to, property, or (c) serious distress, serious annoyance, serious inconvenience or serious loss of amenity.
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