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Summary of changes
9. The legislative changes introduced on 1 April 2007, that your local authority must take account of are that:
- we have increased the minimum amount of notice that organisers must give to your local authority about their intention to march (from seven days to 28 days);
- we have removed the ability that a local authority previously had to exempt certain processions from the requirements to give notice;
- your local authority must consider a range of issues when deciding whether to prevent a procession or place conditions on it;
- your local authority must take account of whether a procession may place too much of a burden on the police;
- your local authority must take into account the effect that a previous procession had on public safety issues and how far those involved kept to any code of conduct or guidance; and
- your local authority must keep a list of processions that have been held in their area, or which have been prevented, to allow the public to see which processions happen regularly and which are likely to happen in the future.
10. The Guidance for Scottish Local Authorities mentioned in paragraph 2 above (from here on referred to in this document as "the guidance") also made suggestions of best practice for local authorities when dealing with processions. We will explain those suggestions which are relevant to this consultation in this document, referring to the relevant paragraphs of the guidance where appropriate.
11. For this consultation, we have focussed on the following key areas which we think are of main interest to community and marching organisations. These are:
- availability of information on processions;
- involvement in the decision making process;
- local authority consideration of relevant factors in making decisions on processions; and
- formal exemptions for certain types of procession.
12. While the following sections are based on these areas. If you have views on any other aspects of the process which are not covered in this consultation or would like to comment on the process as a whole, there is a section at the end for you to express these.
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