Open Rights Group has announced plans to bring a legal challenge against London Mayor Sadiq Khan to prevent the creation of a new police surveillance network.

Working alongside prominent London Assembly member, Sian Berry, the lawsuit claims the creation of the new network will subject “millions of Londoners” to surveillance using road traffic cameras.

The legal challenge looks to counter police access to road traffic cameras following a 2014 move by the Mayor of London to provide the Met with “limited access” to textual data in TfL Automated Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR) road cameras.

In May this year, ORG says Khan chose to expand the scope of police data sharing to include “enhanced contextual imagery” from road cameras, ie photos.

This would include the colour and make of vehicles, images of drivers, and potentially pedestrians and sensitive buildings such as schools or places of worship.

The move has raised concerns among privacy campaigners and legislators alike, with members of an independent advisory group on ANPR road cameras questioning the legality of it and describing the plans as a “gargantuan increase of surveillance in London”.

Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, commented: “With a stroke of a pen, Sadiq Khan has taken a decision that violates the basic privacy rights of millions of Londoners.

“As a former Human Rights lawyer, Sadiq Khan should know that his decision to grant access to the Metropolitan Police is unlawful without meaningful public consultation.

“Sadiq Khan should explain why he has chosen to ignore the views of the Independent Advisory Group on these road cameras.”

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Proposals to expand London’s ULEZ zone from the end of 2023 will cover the whole of Greater London.

Killock said this could mean every car and driver in Greater London will potentially be subject to future surveillance by the Metropolitan Police.

He said: “London is one of the most surveilled cities in the world and with plans to expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover the whole of Greater London from the end of 2023, every single car and driver in Greater London will be subject to surveillance by the Metropolitan Police, yet Londoners have had no say in this.”

Sian Berry of the London Assembly said: “I am deeply disappointed that the Mayor has not listened to repeated warnings that sharing the cameras from the expanded clean air zone with the police was a huge increase in surveillance of Londoners that should not be signed off by his office.

“I have been telling the Mayor since 2019 that sharing this data with the police is wrong and that Londoners must have their say in any decision.

“With so many awful revelations bringing trust and confidence in our police to an all-time low, Londoners should have been asked if they would trust them with this massive database about their daily movements.”

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