Church overturns criminal ban on street preaching and evangelising in London borough after legal action
20 July 2025 Issued by: Christian ConcernIn a win for Christian freedom, a West London church has compelled a local authority to reverse a controversial Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) that had effectively criminalised its Christian outreach ministry.
Supported by lawyers at the Christian Legal Centre, the Kingsborough Centre in Uxbridge, pursued a Judicial Review of the London Borough of Hillingdon’s (LBH) decision to create the first ever street preaching censorship zone in the UK.
The Pentecostal church, known for founding London’s first food bank in 2009, discovered during a prayer meeting that most of its outreach activities had been banned without warning.
Notably, Arsenal and England footballer Bukayo Saka and his family once attended the Kingsborough Centre before relocating to Hertfordshire.
PSPO legislation made under section 59 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, should be used to deal with anti-social behaviour like dog fouling or drinking and drug abuse.
Emphasising that the guidance must be narrowly drafted, the Secretary of State’s guidance states that PSPOs:
“are intended to deal with a particular nuisance or problem in a specific area that is detrimental to the local community’s quality of life, by imposing conditions on the use of that area which apply to everyone. They are intended to help ensure that the law-abiding majority can use and enjoy public spaces, safe from anti-social behaviour.”
In recent years, however, the laws have been politically weaponised to, for example, introduce ‘buffer zones’ around abortion clinics which prevent Christians from praying for and supporting women in crisis pregnancies.
The legislation published by the London Borough of Hillingdon, however, represented something new and not seen before.
Introduced under the radar and without proper consultation, it made it a criminal offence to preach with amplification, distribute Christian leaflets and display Bible verses on posters in Uxbridge town centre.
Although latterly the Council admitted that it had no right to prohibit the distribution of Christian leaflets, local Christians feared that eventually there would be a requirement to obtain a licence to preach as has been seen in Belfast.
Responses to the consultation did, however, describe the legislation as “extremely worrying”, “an attack on freedom of speech”, and ushering in a “police sate”.
In August 2023, the council went ahead with its plans, nonetheless, with its website stating that: ‘police and specific officers authorised by the council can enforce PSPO conditions and may issue fixed penalty notices of £100 for non-compliance.’
It added that: ‘Non-payment of an FPN may lead to court prosecution with a maximum fine of £1,000 and/or criminal conviction.’
The rules were put in place despite no concerns being raised in the limited consultation response about such activity in the area.
A meeting took place with Council officers earlier this year, where the church pressed the Council as to whether there had been any consultation with local Christians before the implementation, and the Council confirmed there had been none.
Furthermore, the Church asked what the purpose of the new rules were, and the Council accepted it was nothing to do with Christian activity in the town centre.
Police approach
The day after the legislation was published, a group of Christians reported that police officers approached them in the town centre as they undertook their regular outreach activities, which included street preaching.
Four posters containing biblical teaching were displayed and they were distributing leaflets to passers-by.
The police warned them that they were in breach of the PSPO and would be fined if they continued their activity.
The police even told the group to turn the signs around so that the biblical messages could not be read. Signs displayed in the zone, for example, include “Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings”, from the Book of Revelation.
Also facing censorship were leaflets entitled ‘How can I know God?’ and ‘What is Christianity: An Introduction to the Story of Jesus.’
Then the senior leadership team at Kingsborough Church, which is situated in the censorship zone, became aware of the legislation after it was mentioned at a prayer meeting.
Pastor Babatunde Balogun (Pastor Tunde), who leads the Church, said he believed they had been ‘criminalised for loving our neighbour’ without any consultation.
The aim of the church’s ministry is to spread the gospel to the residents of Uxbridge. The methods of the ministry team include handing out leaflets containing the gospel message, preaching the gospel message, and engaging in conversations with members of the public about the gospel.
The Church has undertaken ministry in the community since its inception, and for example, held and organised peace gatherings in the area that is now a PSPO zone following the 7/7 terror attack in London in 2005.
Contributing significantly to the community, the Church has also set up three branches of the ‘Coat of Many Colours’ nursery, plus an affordable childcare service which now serves multiple areas within Hillingdon and Hounslow.
Pastor Tunde said: “As Christians who are committed to our faith, carrying out street evangelism is essential to manifesting our Christian beliefs. These rules threatened to not only prevent us from loving our community as we are commanded by the Bible, but also to criminalise us for doing so.
“We had no choice but to pursue a legal claim and were deeply concerned how it would impact, not only us, but other churches across the borough. We were also alarmed by the precedent such legislation could set for Christian freedom and freedom in general for everyone across then UK.
“We believe that the Council did not give due regard to the impact the PSPO would have on Christians and churches. We also think that the Council should have consulted with the churches if it was going to apply the PSPO to Christians.”’
‘Unlawful and disproportionate interference’
Launching an application for Judicial Review, lawyers said that the legislation prohibited: ‘peaceful and lawful behaviour which cannot properly be characterised as “anti-social”’ and that ‘there was no proper evidential basis to support the conclusion that the [outreach team’s] behaviour and that of their colleagues fell within the scope of s. 59 and no adequate reasons were given to justify the restrictions imposed.’
They said that legislation was not proportionate and that the council ‘unlawfully’ sought to impose ‘a regime of prior restraint’ in circumstances that did not justify interference with common law free speech rights.
It was argued that the legislation breached the Church’s rights under Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and therefore meant the council was also in breach of their duties under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
“A proper consultation with the community was not conducted”, they said, “and the council failed to consider the impact the legislation would have on people with protected characteristics.”
Council U-Turn
In August 2024 the claim was given permission to proceed by the High Court.
Then, following correspondence between the Church and the council, and in December 2024, lawyers acting for the council confirmed a U-Turn, stating: ‘Our client has updated relevant pages on its website pages to clearly explain that due to paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 3A to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 the PSPO restriction on distribution of leaflets does not apply where distribution is for a political or religious purpose or by or on behalf of a charity.’
They added that: ‘Following the 1st anniversary of the PSPO earlier this year, our client is currently reviewing its PSPO and proposes to remove the prohibitions on the use of amplification and placing of articles on the highway and expressly state that the leafletting exemption does not apply to religious leafletting. A draft of the PSPO will be published in due course as part of our client’s Cabinet processes and consultation on the new PSPO.’
LBH have also agreed to pay the legal costs believed to be in the region of £20,000.
‘Criminalised for loving our neighbour’
Following the U-turn, Pastor Tunde added: “We are very relieved and grateful that the council has amended this legislation. It is difficult to evidence exactly what the intentions of the council were, but the impact of what they introduced was immediately very clear. The legislation was oppressive and created a climate of fear which meant we could not carry out sharing the gospel with the people of Uxbridge.
“We are concerned at the damage that has already been done. We pray that there will now be proper communication between the council and the police to ensure that no one is penalised for street preaching and sharing the gospel in this zone.
“Our mission is to bring hope and the love of Jesus Christ to the people of Uxbridge. The service we provide to the community should be supported, not suppressed, and we hope that this case and the awareness it raises will set a precedent across the country.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said:
“Christian open-air preaching has a long and respected history in the UK and is seen as a pillar of free speech and expression, whether passers-by agree with the message or not.
“Since the turn of the century there has been a concerning escalation in street preacher arrests despite strong legal precedents being set in defence of their freedoms.
“The legislation published by the London Borough of Hillingdon represented something we had not seen before. Published under the radar, it demonstrated a clear direction of travel that would see sharing Christianity on the streets of Uxbridge become a criminal offence.
“If allowed to go unchallenged, this legislation would have set a chilling precedent for Christian outreach ministries across the UK.
“We are encouraged that the council has seen sense and U-turned, however, this case must act as a warning to local authorities across the country that any similar laws prohibiting Christian freedoms are unlawful and will be challenged.
“We would encourage churches and other outreach ministries to be vigilant and ready to report and challenge any similar legislation proposed by local authorities.
“It can never be ‘anti-social’ to share the hope of the gospel and reaching the community with material, emotional and spiritual support.”
