Published by The Argus on Thursday 26th June 2025
By Deborah Price, Local Democracy Reporter
Calls from the Church of Scientology for an order to ban protests outside its East Grinstead HQ have been recommended for refusal.
Mid Sussex District Council’s cabinet is due to make a decision on Monday (June 30) about whether to put a public space protection order in place on Saint Hill Road and West Hoathly Road.
The church made the request for the order in July 2024, saying protests held outside its premises had a “detrimental effect” on the quality of life of people living nearby, posed a risk to public safety, and caused “harassment, disturbance and alarm” to those attending the church.
Protests were held in 2023 and 2024 – both involving ex-Scientologists and both taking place before the annual International Association of Scientology event.
The church wanted the order to be put in place before last year’s event but the council and Sussex Police chose instead to collect evidence to determine if an order was needed. Now council officers have recommended that it is not.
Alexander Barnes-Ross, a former member but now an outspoken critic of Scientology, said: “This ten-month-long process has been lengthy and arduous on both protesters and the local council and I am grateful for the careful and meticulous detail with which they have examined over 500 pages of evidence and hours of video footage of our protests.
“Scientology’s attempt to ban protesting through a PSPO is just another example of their steadfast commitment to stifling free speech and using legal threats to silence anybody who dares to speak out against them.”
Scientology became a recognised religion in the UK in 2013.
A church spokesman said: “The purpose of our application for a PSPO is to facilitate our members and guests being able to visit our place of worship without them or their children being impeded, abused, shouted or otherwise religiously discriminated against.
“The terms of the proposed PSPO allowed for the practice of the right to protest and suggested a location next to our church premises but one that didn’t block the entrance.
“We will continue to seek remedies to safeguard our parishioners from hate speech and abuse.”
Witness statements from police officers who attended the last protest in October 2024, reported no real issues other than a looped recording of “very loud” bagpipe music being aimed at the road from the church premises, while protesters chanted “stop the abuse” every now and then.
A report to the cabinet said it had cost more than £84,000 to consider the PSPO application so far. Should a legal challenge be made, whatever the committee decides to do, at least £50,000 would be added to those costs to defend that challenge.