High Court orders postponement of Stevenage community event

The ruling came after Stevenage Borough Council sought an injunction against Longmeadow and Bragbury End Residents Group – chaired by James Smith – in an attempt to prevent him from holding Broadwater Day 2024.

The two-day event would have included live music, street food, children’s rides, and a dog show at Shephalbury Park in Stevenage.

The council said there was a “potential risk to public safety” caused by a lack of planning and “proper risk assessment”, and cited further issues including a lack of public liability insurance and a lack of traffic and waste management plans.

Mr Justice Jeremy Mould ordered an interim injunction to prevent the event from going ahead but offered Mr Smith,  who represented himself during a hearing today (August 22), the chance of a second hearing on Friday to give him time to seek legal advice.

A High Court hearing was held at the Royal Courts of Justice. (Image: Christopher Day)

A Facebook event page for Broadwater Day 2024 appears to have been deleted following the hearing on today.

Mr Smith interrupted the judge on multiple occasions, at one point saying “untrue” and on another occasion briefly leaving the courtroom.

He returned to tell the judge he “absolutely” would be back on Friday for a second hearing, then left again before the judgement had finished.

Mr Smith told the court that the situation had caused him “a lot of stress”.

“If you make this order, you’re going to be impoverishing our community,” Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith notified the council of the event in February and sent the authority an event plan and risk assessment in July.

Council officers raised “significant concerns” with the plans and, after giving Mr Smith until August 13 to change them to their satisfaction, notified him on August 14 that they would not be granting permission for the event to go ahead.

Mr Smith said: “If the council had engaged with us in February, we would have been able to get somewhere.”

Michael Paget, representing Stevenage Borough Council, said: “Mr Smith just doesn’t want to ask for permission. He needs to communicate with us and say what he’s doing.”

Mr Paget said that, while “the window of opportunity has gone” for submitting amended plans for this weekend’s event, the council was “very willing to deal with Mr Smith” in the future.

The judge dismissed suggestions from Mr Smith that the council’s byelaws are unenforceable, and that the event could be classed as a ‘garden fete’ – and therefore exempt from licensing regulations.

He said the organisers of Broadwater Day had had “ample opportunity” to act on the council’s concerns, and they were “deliberately and flagrantly intent on proceeding with the event”.

Last year, Mr Smith cancelled a similar, three-day event after the council spent £15,000 bringing a similar legal action against it. Mr Smith had not sought permission or a license for that event. Later in the year, a one-day Broadwater Day was held instead.

Broadwater Day was first held in 1971 and has been a regular occasion since 2019.