Agenda item

Background to the proposal that was put to the Licensing Committee to streamline the existing road closure process.

The Licensing Team Manager, D King introduced the report for information on the arrangements for road closures and street parties. The UK had a long history of organised street parties to celebrate national events and this year residents were encouraged to come together as part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations and to organise and host street parties across the bank holiday weekend.

To facilitate this, local authorities were asked to encourage these events by promoting them through their communication channels and by facilitating any necessary road closures etc.

In March this year a proposal was put to the Licensing Committee to streamline the existing road closure process and make it more accessible for residents. This was agreed and the following changes were implemented:

• Waive the £194 fee for community/charitable events. This was in line with the previous decision on 29^th July 2014and in respect of VE Day celebrations. 

• 6-week application period - there are no legal deadlines, and whilst applicants should be encouraged to submit applications at the earliest stage, we can adopt a minimum 4 week notice cut off period. However, where objections are received this may not allow sufficient time for the Licensing Sub-Committee to determine the application and therefore, they may have to be refused outright.

• The Councils Licensing Team to undertake consultation with Essex Highways. The applicant is responsible for notifying neighbours, businesses, Town Parish Council and anyone who will be affected by the road closure.   

• Risk Assessments – remove the need for risk assessments to be submitted at application stage and substitute with the following advice; If your event is for 500 people or less, we won’t normally ask for a risk assessment to be submitted as part of the application. However, you should ensure that you consider all the risks involved and document these. This will help you to identify any particular areas where problems may occur and that you have addressed them. Documenting this process and demonstrating that you’ve prepared to mitigate risks offers you protection if something happens at your event. Please refer to the ‘Guide to Street Party and Planning’ for further guidance. You can get further advice from the Health and Safety Executive at www.hse.gov.uk

• Removal of the requirement for public liability insurance. There is no requirement from central government to have public liability insurance and many councils don’t insist on this. However, applicants are advised that if they wish to obtain insurance for their own peace of mind, information about public liability insurance is available on third party websites including; the Streets Alive, streetparty.org.uk and the Big Lunch etc.

This recommendation is in line with Governments guidance to organising a street party Your guide to organising a street party - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Following the sad passing of Her Majesty The Queen, it has now been confirmed that His Majesty King Charles The III’s coronation will take place on Saturday 6th May 2023.

At this time, it was not known if the proceeding Friday or following Monday will be made a bank holiday. Irrespective of a bank holiday or not it is anticipated that residents will again be encouraged to celebrate this momentous occasion and accordingly local authorities will be expected to make the process as easy as possible.

Given the success of the process adopted for Her Majesty The Queens Jubilee, it was proposed that the same application process be adopted for His Majesty King Charles The III’s coronation. This was agreed by the Committee.

Councillor Morgan asked if the fees would remain the same. Mr King said he did not know at this time and was looking into this.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the current procedures for local authority involvement in the authorisation for road closures and street parties were noted; and

2.     That this process remains in place for the coming Kings Coronation in May 2023.