Ok here goes.
You may find you can make people sit up and listen to you if you know the laws that govern the ritual side of things.
1. On 2 October 1998 the European Convention on Human Rights will be incorporated into National Law under the Human Rights Act, which received Royal assent on 9 November. The Convention enshrines the right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and freedom from religious discrimination (hitherto only outlawed in British law in Northern Ireland). Article 18 states: 'Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance'. The Act makes it unlawful for any public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with the Convention, and legal proceedings may be brought if a person, company or organisation suffers as a result of an authority's unlawful act.
2. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
3. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
4. No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This Article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on the exercise of these rights by members of the armed forces, of the police or of the administration of the State
5. Partly in response to these changes to the law the Government has commissioned Derby University's Religious Resource and Research Centre to undertake a study of religious discrimination in the UK, and the final report is due to be presented to the Home Office this month. The interim report of January 2000 specifically cited Pagans as an example of a minority religious group affected by such discrimination.
As you can see they cannot stop us from being Pagans at Avebury, so they are trying the next best thing, stopping us from being able to remain there at the times we need to be there, however the carpark is within the boundries of the religious site as defined by the NT and as paganism historically would have celibrated feasts for days you could claim that the campsite is a continuation of the feasting ritual (we do drink a lot of mead and eat there).
My interpretation of this is that if the national trust give us permission to camp solely for the period of our Pagan Festivals and they are the sole owners of this land (the car park), then the local bylaws would be seen as discriminatory as our camping there does not effect the interests of national security or public safety, or the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
As you can see from item 5 the governments own research has given Paganism the heading of "Religion" so we do not have to prove that we are.
I will continue to research this for more information to assist you.
TIG
