Celebrating the jubilee with a street party in Bridgend County Borough

With the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee set to be marked with a series of national events and a four-day bank holiday weekend between Thursday 2 June – Sunday 5 June, residents of Bridgend County Borough are being reminded of what they need to do if they want to organise a street party or other community event.

If you would like to organise your own event in Bridgend County Borough, here’s what you need to know:

• Plan early - think about what you want to achieve, and where you want to hold the event. If the location is on council-owned land or involves a street / highway, get in touch with the local authority as soon as possible.
• Bridgend County Borough Council will support applications for a road closure to enable a street party to be held as long as the location is suitable for such an event – for example, a cul-de-sac or a minor road with a low level of traffic.
• Some roads must remain open to e.g. carry a bus route or for emergency access. Public highways that are classed at A, B or C roads are not suitable for closure applications.
• While there is no charge for applying for a temporary road closure, all applications must be submitted by 10 working days before the date of the planned event. You can send these to streetparty@bridgend.gov.uk
• Applications will need to demonstrate that residents within the street are supportive of the road closure. A designated organiser who is fully responsible for the street party and closure should be named along with their contact details.
• The designated organiser will need to provide details showing that a risk assessment has been completed, and that appropriate measures are in place to safely close the road, restrict traffic access for public safety and adequately maintain the closure for the duration of the event.
• As a private party, under Licensing regulations you will not need a licence to sell food unless you want to only sell hot food and drink after 11pm. Agreeing with neighbours to bring food to share at the event is a good way to bring different groups of people together.
• If you want a pay bar, intend to provide entertainment to the wider public or charge a fee to raise money for your event, you will need a Temporary Event Notice for which there is a fee and a required notice period of at least 10 working days. If your event is likely to involve more than 500 people, you will require a Premises Licence – visit our Licensing webpage for more details.
• For small residential street parties, public liability insurance is recommended, but is not absolutely essential. However, it would be a good idea to consider it for larger organised events – for more advice about this, visit streetparty.org.uk.
• Consider whether someone is available at your event who is trained and equipped to provide First Aid. If the event is likely to create noise, please let neighbours and businesses in the area know in advance of the event, and provide them with the organiser’s contact details in case of any problems.
• Don’t forget that you will need to clean up after your street party, so please keep your local area clean and tidy. Let people know in advance what time the party will finish, and have a section set aside for bin bags and recycling.

The Platinum Jubilee will offer communities throughout Bridgend County Borough a great chance to come together and hold a celebration with neighbours.

To support this and ensure that people can mark the occasion safely, the council has made a wealth of information available to support this, ensure that people can mark the occasion safely, and help local communities to plan ahead.

Chief Executive Mark Shephard

To find out more about organising and holding a street party, visit www.streetparty.org.uk.