Expedited Public Spaces Protection Orders and the Duty to Consult: Is Consultation Delayed Participation Denied?

As significant changes to public order laws continue to occur under the
Conservative government, this article considers powers contained in the Police,
Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, providing local authorities with the ability to impose restrictions on protests via an Expedited Public Spaces Protection Order (E-PSPO). In contrast to the existing Public Spaces Protection Order scheme, the imposition of an E-PSPO requires only limited consent and may occur without the local authority first undertaking a consultation. This paper examines whether permitting consultation to be delayed until after such an order is imposed undercuts the purposes and principles of consultation and inhibits the exercise of those fundamental rights associated with protest, and assesses whether exploitation of the power to delay may equate to a denial of consultation altogether.