Large public events require extra planning and preparation, sometimes lasting months or even a year. This section provides information on how to run a safe and successful event. It includes advice and guidance to help you plan and organise your event, health and safety considerations and more.
Planning and Organising
Within this section you can find out:
- what you need to consider when planning a large event
- what permissions, licences and insurance you will need
- information on traffic management and how to advertise your event
How much notice do I need to give?
Three months notice is required. Especially for events that need a road closure.
Complete road closure event applications (no outstanding docs/details) received up to 6 weeks before the event may be considered. Incomplete applications received up to 6 weeks before will not be processed.
- For events with up to 5,000 people, you must give 3 months’ notice.
- For events with over 5,000 people, you should give 6 months’ notice.
Things to consider
Before submitting the Event Notification Form, please consider the following:
- Why you are holding the event
- Whether you need to make a profit
- Who will attend your event
- What kind of event will it be, e.g. will there be water based activities, fireworks, music or street stalls
- Where you want to hold the event and whether you need permission to hold it there. Find out more on the 'holding events on Council land' page.
- When the event will take place – remember to allow 3-12 months for the necessary licences, inspections and highway issues
- How long the event will last
- Whether your event will clash with any other events. This could affect the numbers attending and the support the emergency services can offer
You will also need to consider:
- whether you need permission to hold the event
- who needs to be consulted
- whether you need licences and planning permission
Find out more about permissions
Location
The location of your event is one of the most important decisions. A good location will bring in extra visitors. A bad one can cause major traffic problems and annoy people living nearby.
Here are some things to consider when deciding where to hold your event:
- Is it easy for people and cars to enter and exit the site?
- Is there plenty of car parking nearby?
- Do you need to organise a park and ride system?
- Is the site near homes that could be affected by noise from the event?
- If your event will take place on a beach, will it be affected by the tides?
- If your location is a working site, like a harbour or a farm, will you be able to fit your event around the normal work that is going on at the site?
- Will your location affect the local environment? Some sites provide habitat for wildlife or have archaeological remains and can easily be damaged by large numbers of visitors.
Setting up a committee
If you are organising a large event, you may want to form a committee to help run things. You may need a constitution for your committee.
If you do set up a committee, you will need to nominate:
- a chairman
- vice-chairman
- secretary and
- treasurer
You may also want to assign some of the other responsibilities to specific committee members, such as:
- health and safety
- marketing
- entertainment
- staffing
- catering
- first aid
- security
You don’t have to have a large committee. Committee members can be responsible for more than one aspect of the event.
Agree on your committee meeting dates early on. You might need to hold more frequent meetings as the event draws closer to ensure that everything is going to plan and deal with any last minute issues.
Event notification forms
- Event notification form (PDF)
- Event notification form (Word)
- CC Event Notification Form With Road Closure (PDF)
- CC Event Notification Form with Road Closure (Word)
Useful documents
- Contributor / Exhibitor Checklist
- Safety inspection Checklist
- Event Emergency Preparedness Checklist and Guidance
- Health and Safety Executive - Guidance on running events safely
- The Purple Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Music and Other Events
- Health and Safety Executive - Guidance for events which attract large numbers of visitors, such as festivals and concerts
- National Counter-Terrorism Security Office - Advice to help mitigate the threat of a terrorist attack in crowded places
