Wolverhampton City Council and others (Respondents) v London Gypsies and Travellers and others (Appellants)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2022/0046

Parties

Appellant(s)

London Gypsies and Travellers

Friends, Families and Travellers

Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group

Respondent(s)

Wolverhampton City Council

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council

London Borough of Redbridge

London Borough of Havering

Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council

Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council

Thurrock Council

Persons unknown

Intervener(s)

Friends of the Earth

Liberty

High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd

Secretary of State for Transport

Issue

Does the court have the power to grant "newcomer injunctions", i.e. injunctions against persons who are unknown and unidentified as at the date of the order, and who have not yet performed, or threatened to perform, the acts which the injunction prohibits? If so, on what basis and subject to what safeguards?

Facts

Between 2015 and 2020, a number of local authorities obtained injunctions designed to prevent Gypsies and Travellers from camping on local authority land without permission. The injunctions were addressed to "persons unknown" because the Gypsies and Travellers who might wish to camp on a particular site could not generally be identified in advance. At the time the injunctions were granted, these unknown persons, or newcomers, had not yet camped, or threatened to camp, on the local authority land without permission, or to commit any other relevant unlawful activity. The local authorities obtained the injunctions without notifying any other party, at hearings where the interests of Gypsies and Travellers were not represented.From around mid-2020, the local authorities made applications to extend or vary injunctions which were coming to an end. After a hearing in one of these cases, the High Court judge decided that there was a need to review all newcomer injunctions affecting Gypsies and Travellers. He gave the appellants, who represent the interests of Gypsies and Travellers, permission to intervene so that the interests of Gypsies and Travellers could be represented. Following the review hearing, the judge concluded that the court did not have the power to grant newcomer injunctions, except on a short-term, interim basis. He therefore made a series of orders discharging the newcomer injunctions obtained by the local authorities.The Court of Appeal held that the court had the power to grant newcomer injunctions, and allowed the local authorities' appeal. The appellants now appeal to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

22 February 2022

Judgment details

Judgment date

29 November 2023

Neutral citation

[2023] UKSC 47

Judgment links

Judgment summary

29 November 2023

Appeal

Justices

Lord Reed

Lord Hodge

Lord Lloyd-Jones

Lord Briggs

Lord Kitchin

Hearing dates

Full hearing

Start date

8 February 2023

End date

9 February 2023

Watch hearings

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