Can anyone display or sell any publication at a Council premises?

Question

At parish council -owned buildings such as a community centre or hall lobby where council offices are located and members of the public often come, can any publication material by members of the public be displayed if there is no explicit policy or prior considerations about it; and, if a small community publication contains disparaging, apparently factually incorrect or unfounded, and potentially defamatory content about specific named councillors, then could the Council be held liable for allowing the publication, or at least the specific edition in question, to be publicly available on its premises?

Answer 1

Who is responsible for managing the building? Many halls are owned by the parish council but leased to a charity responsible for the day-to-day management. The managers, whether the council or a third party, may make or not make whatever rules they choose, within the parameters of the law of the land. The offence of defamation falls upon the publisher of the material, so the council could only be held liable for anything it publishes.

Comments

The building is owned and operated by the parish council. Apparently there isn’t a readily available established policy - can anyone just go and display  overtly offensive and potentially defamatory material without the council having any responsibility after the council was made aware of it?

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If there isn't a policy and members of the public are allowed to display their own items without any prior consideration, the answer to your question is yes, anyone can just go and display overtly offensive and potentially defamatory material (unless it crosses the line into illegal material).  The Council has no responsibility for it, but may wish to consider implementing a policy to prevent this from happening again. Treat it as a learning opportunity.