PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 44306/98) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by three United Kingdom nationals, Mrs Eileen Appleby, Mrs Pamela Beresford and Mr Robert Alphonsus, and an environmental group, Washington First Forum, (“the applicants”), on 1 September 1998.

The applicants, who had been granted legal aid, were represented by Mr J. Welch, a lawyer working for Liberty in London. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr C. Whomersley.

The applicants alleged that they had been prevented from meeting in the town centre, a privately owned shopping mall, to impart information and ideas about proposed local development plans. They relied on Articles 10, 11 and 13 of the Convention.

The application was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).

The application was allocated to the Second Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court).

On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Fourth Section (Rule 52 § 1). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.

A hearing on admissibility and the merits took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 15 October 2002 (Rule 54 § 3). There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Government Mr C. Whomersley, Agent, Mr J. Crow, Counsel, Mrs J.-A. Mackenzie, Adviser; (b) for the applicants Mr R. Singh QC, Mr A. Sharland, Counsel, Ms J. Sawyer, Adviser. The applicants Mrs Appleby and Mrs Beresford were also present. The Court heard addresses by Mr Crow and Mr Singh.

By a decision of 12 November 2002, the Chamber declared the application admissible.

The applicants made submissions on just satisfaction to which the Government replied.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The first, second and third applicants were born in 1952, 1966 and 1947 respectively and live in Washington (Tyne and Wear), where the fourth applicant, an environmental group set up by the applicants, is also based.

The new town centre of Washington is known as “the Galleries” and is located within an area now owned by Postel Properties Limited (“Postel”), a private company. This town centre was originally built by the Washington Development Corporation (“the Corporation”), a body set up by the government of the United Kingdom pursuant to an Act of Parliament to build the “new” centre. The centre was sold to Postel on 30 December 1987.

The Galleries, as owned by Postel at the relevant time, comprised a shopping mall (with two hypermarkets and major shops), the surrounding car parks with spaces for approximately 3,000 cars and walkways. Public services were also available in the vicinity. However, the freehold of the careers’ office and the public library was owned by the Council, the social services office and health centre were leased to the Council by the Secretary of State and the freehold of the police station was held on behalf of Northumbria Police Authority. There was a post office within the Galleries and also the offices of the housing department, leased to the Council by Postel.

Around September 1997 the Council gave outline planning permission to the City of Sunderland College to build on a part of Princess Anne Park in Washington known as the Arena. The Arena is the only playing field in the vicinity of Washington town centre which is available for use by the local community. The first to third applicants, together with other concerned residents, formed the fourth applicant to campaign against the college’s proposal and to persuade the Council not to grant the college permission to build on the field.

On or around 14 March 1998 the first applicant, together with her husband and son, set up two stands at the entrance of the shopping mall in the Galleries, displaying posters alerting the public to the likely loss of the open space and seeking signatures to present to the Council on behalf of Washington First Forum. Security guards employed by Postel would not let the first applicant or her assistants continue to collect signatures on any land or premises owned by Postel. The applicants had to remove their stands and stop collecting signatures.

The manager of one of the hypermarkets gave the applicants permission to set up stands within that store in March 1998, allowing them to transmit their message and to collect signatures, albeit from a reduced number of people. However, the same permission was not granted in April 1998 when the applicants wanted to collect signatures for a further petition.

On 10 April 1998 the third applicant, as acting chair of Washington First Forum, wrote to the manager of the Galleries asking for permission to set up a stand and to canvass views from the public either inside the mall itself or in the adjacent car parks and offered to pay to be allowed to do so. In his reply of 14 April 1998, the manager of the Galleries refused access. His letter read as follows: “... the Galleries is unique in as much as although it is the Town Centre, it is also privately owned. The owner’s stance on all political and religious issues, is one of strict neutrality and I am charged with applying this philosophy. I am therefore obliged to refuse permission for you to carry out a petition within the Galleries or the adjacent car parks.”

On 19 April 1998 the third applicant wrote again to the manager of the Galleries, asking him to reconsider his decision. His letter remained unanswered.

The fourth applicant continued to try and reach the public by setting up stands by the roadside on public footpaths and going to the old town centre at Concord which, however, is visited by a much smaller number of Washington residents.

The deadline for letters of representation to the Council regarding the building works was 1 May 1998. On 30 April 1998 the applicants submitted the 3,200 letters of representation they had obtained.

The fourth applicant has produced a list of associations and others which were given permission to carry out collections, set up stands and displays within the Galleries. These included: the Salvation Army (collection before Christmas), local school choirs (carol-singing and collection before Christmas), the Stop Smoking Campaign (advertising display and handing out of nicotine patches), the Blood Transfusion Service (blood collection), the Royal British Legion (collection for Armistice Day), various photographers (advertising and taking of photographs) and British Gas (staffed advertising display).

From 31 January to 6 March 2001, Sunderland Council ran a consultation campaign under the banner “Your Council, Your Choice”, informing the local residents of three leadership choices for the future of the Council and were allowed to use the Galleries for this purpose. This was a statutory consultation exercise carried out under section 25 of the Local Government Act 2000, which required local authorities to draw up proposals for the operation of “executive arrangements” and consult local electors before sending them to the Secretary of State. Some 8,500 people were reported as having responded to the survey.