Planning an event

If you are planning a public event, we advise you to contact our Safety Advisory Group.

The Safety Advisory Group acts as the focal point for event organisers, for specialist advice and guidance in relation to hosting an event. It works in partnership with emergency services and professional bodies to discuss the health and safety issues around staging an event.

The group has no legal powers. As an advisory group, it cannot give consent or approval for an event to take place, but will advise the event organiser on public safety issues which may need to be addressed. The role of the Safety Advisory Group is detailed at the bottom of this page.

You should complete our notification form to inform the Safety Advisory Group of your planned event. This form needs to be submitted at least three months before your event takes place to give the group time to consider the information and provide you with the relevant advice. 

Complete our  notification of event form (docx / 113 KB)

Download our  event management plan template and guidance (docx / 54 KB)

Contact us if you need to speak to the team.

Event organisers should be aware that certain permissions may be required if, for example, you intend to sell alcohol, provide regulated entertainment, or if your event requires road closures. In these situations you will need to speak to other teams at North Yorkshire Council about your event and different lead in times will apply.

In particular, this will be necessary if you are looking to:

• obtain a licence
• engage with our highways team
• hold your event on council land  - please contact ParksandGroundsCommercial@northyorks.gov.uk 
• hold your event on and off street car park - please contact parking.sca@northyorks.gov.uk

The Safety Advisory Group cannot grant licences or permissions on behalf of these teams.

Further information and advice

• our street party, event or demonstration on or by a road page
• guidance on running events safely on the Health and Safety Executive website
• guidance on organising a voluntary event on the government website
• the purple guide website for guidance on health, safety and welfare at outdoor events
• how to get training and advice on counter-terrorism on the government website
• our alcohol and entertainment licenses page
• advice and guidance on the Explosive Industry Group's website on firework displays
• advice on the Health and Safety Executive's website on organising firework displays 
• testing and tagging for inflatables on the Professional Inflatable Play Association's website
• the Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme website
• guidance on bouncy castles and other play inflatables on the Health and Safety Executive's website
• health and safety guidance for fairgrounds on the Health and Safety Executive's website
• preventing or controlling ill health from animal contact at visitor attractions on the Access to Farms website
• advice for temporary campsites on the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website
• event medical plans and risk assessments on the Yorkshire Ambulance Service website
• terrorism risk assessment on the ProtectUK website
•  event planning and counter terrorism considerations (pdf / 240 KB)

The role of the Safety Advisory Group

Safety Advisory Groups provide a forum for discussing and advising on public safety at an event. They aim to help organisers with the planning, and management of an event and to encourage cooperation and coordination between all relevant agencies. Safety Advisory Groups are non-statutory bodies and so do not have legal powers or responsibilities, and are not empowered to approve or prohibit events from taking place (although individual agencies that are members of a Safety Advisory Group may have regulatory powers). Event organisers and others involved in the running of an event, retain the principal legal duties for ensuring public safety.

It is, therefore, the responsibility of the event organiser to comply with all relevant laws and guidance and to ensure the event is conducted safely. The Safety Advisory Group, in reviewing event documentation and providing commentary to event organisers, is doing so in a purely advisory role and its involvement does not remove the event organiser’s own legal duties and responsibilities for discharging its legal responsibilities. Neither ourselves nor any of the participants in the Safety Advisory Group accept any liability for loss to event organisers or participants arising from the cancellation of or adjustment to any events or event plans at any time.