The legal fight to keep Sir John Hawkins Square
Sir John Hawkins Square has existed in Plymouth for over 40 years and it is a small gesture to the Naval Commander who was born and raised in Plymouth; became its MP and then ensured the Spanish Armada were defeated when they came to attack England. He is the cousin of Sir Francis Drake and one of the most important naval historical figures of the British Empire.
In May 2020 George Floyd was killed by Police in the USA. This led to the rise of the left wing, woke Black Lives Matter movement and immediately statues and names of roads and streets in the uk were attacked. BLM supporters in Plymouth, focused their immediate attentions on Sir Francis Drake Statue on the Hoe and the small yet significant Sir John Hawkins Square near the city center and at the side of the magistrates court. (This is because of their 3 joint slave trading missions which they undertook over 500 years ago; at the request of the Queen and in her boats.)
Within a few weeks the woke Labour councillors had decided amongst themselves to change and rename Sir John Hawkins Square. There was no public consultation and the council did the whole thing in a matter of a couple of days. In doing so; they failed to follow their own policies; government guidelines and then have erred in law by believing that the 1925 Public Health Act (section 18) allows them to rename or change the name of a road or street; when actually the wording used in the legislation is 'Alteration' and Alter - which is not the same meaning as change or rename.
That was 4 years ago...now the same woke Labour council have decided to rename the square, to 'Justice Square'. They couldn't change the square to Jack Leslie Square as they previously wanted...as the PCC under Nick Kelly's leadership gave the unnamed road next to Home park the name of 'Jack Leslie Way'. (which was originally my idea)
However this is no longer my case and these funds will be for my good friend Jill who has taken this appeal forwards.
Thus this project is to raise enough funds to appoint a solicitor and barrister to assist with Jill with the case and help take this appeal forward and hopefully create case law to ensure the law is followed as it was intended and to put a stop to any local authority to be able to change or rename roads - which is something we need certainty on - in regards to maps, land registry, emergency services and many other reasons.
The legislation is clear - they can alter the name of an existing road; an example of an Alteration would be to change the Square to 'Hawkins Square' and drop the Sir John. This would keep its identity; yet be slightly different than the original - just like you would alter a dress.
Finally, not £1 of this money raised will be used to pay any previous costs orders that is shortly to be made against me. Those costs are unenforceable as the council committed fraud and perverted the course of public justice to get those costs and will have to go back to court to justify them...and 3 years on - they haven't.
I shall post more updates on the twitter handle @hawkinscampaign
and via my website - www.dannybamping.com
Thanks for all your support.
Danny Bamping (and Jill)