Southwell Town Council raise concerns of impact of Martyn’s Law anti-terrorism requirements on community events

Fears have been raised that new anti-terrorism rules could put excessive pressure on small councils and scupper much-loved events.

At a meeting of Southwell Town Council’s Town Environment committee, councillors discussed the future of their events considering the current bill, Martyn’s Law.

The law, which has recently completed pre-legislative scrutiny via the Home Affairs Select Committee and is awaiting introduction to Parliament, will require venues to take steps to improve public safety to protect people from terrorist attacks.

The rules are officially known as the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill and is named in honour of Martyn Hett, one of the Manchester Arena terrorist attack victims.

While it has been designed to keep events safe from potential terror attacks, there are concerns it will negatively impact smaller community events due to the cost and amount of labour involved in providing increased risk assessments and safety measures.

Peter Brooker said: “It is not just the council that would be affected.

“The Lions’ or the Pink Ladies’ quiz… events will get cancelled because its too much of a burden.”

Committee chairman Lyn Harris explained that the exact details of the law were not yet known as it is still progressing through the legislative process. The bill remains a draft and is subject to change until it is passed into law.

It is expected the safety requirements will be proportionate to the number of people expected to attend each event, divided into ‘100 to 800 person’ and ‘more than 800’ capacities.

Peter Harris said: “It’s a risk analysis, and that’s what we need to do.

“Most of our events are open air and are low risk, so I’m not concerned.”

Phil Barron, who was attending the meeting to observe, commented based on his experience in risk assessments.

He said: “There’s a risk of a one size fits all risk assessment, which doesn’t have an impact on incidents happening but becomes a burden.”

Peter Harris had earlier spoken about the large amount of risk assessments the council had already been required to fulfil to host the Tour of Britain in 2023 — which he suggested had already put significant pressure on the council.

Queries were also raised about the need for anti-terrorism in Southwell, where there has “never been a terror attack”.

Penny Rainbow added: “Everything is low risk until something happens.”

Councillors closed the discussion with the agreement that there was still time before the bill was passed, and suggested they had “got a few years” as there was no guarantee of it becoming law this year.