VE Day Events
Street parties
Street parties are a popular form of celebration for a local community. Historically these have been on the road within a community, with activity taking place over the day.
Road closures
When an event is on the highway, the safety of the people and the road is the primary factor. In these situations, a legal road closure will need to be applied for from us. Any street parties taking place on the street/highway that have not applied for a legal road closure, will be illegally obstructing the highway.
For the purposes of the VE Day Celebrations, we have waived the costs of producing the legal closure order.
All road closures will however require an agreed method to close the road which in many cases will require contracting a traffic management company to provide the correct signs to inform of the closure in advance, and then close the road on the day. Please note that when a closure is in place it does mean that there is no vehicular access through the site, even if a person lives on the road. The cost of a traffic management company, if required, must be covered by the organiser/organising committee.
A 'quiet road' does not negate the need for a Traffic Management company, should a road closure be required.
Please note that signs should be hired from Traffic Management companies; they are not available to hire from us.
There may be opportunities for applications from Member budgets to assist with costs, but this will be dependent on the costs for the event and the number of requests in the area. Contact your Locality Officer or Local Member for more information.
The recommendation is, if at all possible, to hold a street party off the road in a car park, village green or other space. This is more cost effective and causes less disruption.
However, the use of green spaces will still require permission and public liability insurance.
If the road is the only option, then there a few things that need to be done. You will need to consider that:
- you ensure that most of the people who will be impacted are happy that the road is closed
- while one person can take the lead in holding the event, it is better if it is a (constituted) organising group
- the event will need a minimum of £1m public liability insurance - this can be obtained online starting at £59 depending on the complexity of the event
An example of a company that provides the correct type of insurance is Event Insurance. For many communities there may be organisations that already hold the correct insurance and are part of the organisation of the event.
- if the road is a one entrance cul-de-sac then the highway authority will allow the organiser to close the road with an agreed method and equipment used
- if the road has two entrances and is very quiet in its nature, then the highway authority will allow designated local people to close the road, but the organiser must contract in the correct signage both prior to and on the day - if there are no local people trained, a conversation will need to take place to see if there are any other locally trained volunteers or if training could be enabled, as if this is not possible it may then require contracted traffic management to deliver the road closure
- if the road is a through route or more complex, then this will require a contracted traffic management company and they will provide all the equipment and diversions for the event
- if an event will include the sale of alcohol or play live music in the form of a band, then the event venue will require a licence for these regulated activities - if one is not already in place there will need to be a conversation with our Licensing Team
- if your event plans include a bouncy castle or another type of inflatable, there will need to be a detailed conversation regarding this
- for any community events the organisers should detail how they would deal with a medical issue - for larger events it’s possible a contracted medical company should be brought in
