Your guide to organising a street party or fete
Street parties and fetes are a traditional part of community life. They are a simple way for us to get to know our neighbours and meet members of our community.
With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations taking place in 2012, some of you may be considering planning one in your community to mark a national event. We want to make it easier for you to organise these sorts of local events, without having to plough through mountains of forms and red tape.
The closing date for all Diamond Jubilee Street Party road closure applications is Tuesday 1 May 2012.
The simple guidelines below tell you how to hold a community event in your local area. There is also one simple form for you to use to let us know about your plans, so you can get on with the real work of organising a fun event.
What sort of events does this apply to?
This is about the sort of street parties and fetes that groups of residents get together to arrange for their neighbours. The main differences between a small street party and fetes and larger public events are listed below:
| Street parties and fetes | Larger public events |
| For residents / neighbours only | Anyone can attend |
| Publicity only to residents | External publicity (e.g. in newspapers) |
| No licenses usually necessary if music incidental and no selling is involved | Licence usually needed |
| No formal risk assessment needed | Risk assessment common |
| Self organised | Professional / skilled organisers |
| Insurance optional | Insurance needed |
Organising small, private street parties and fetes is very simple and generally does not include activities that need a licence, such as selling alcohol or providing certain types of entertainment.
It's that simple
If you would like to hold a small, private street party or fete to celebrate a national event you can use the form below to let us know about your plans.
While we want to make it as straightforward as possible for you to organise your event the Council has a legal duty to ensure the safety of the public and the free flow of traffic on the district’s roads.
That means we need to know where and when you want to close roads so that we can plan around it (for example, so emergency services know).
- For cul-de-sacs and no-through routes we will allow closures providing the request is made by the majority of residents on the street and we are notified using the form below and an appropriate road closure order is obtained from us.
- For through routes a road closure will be allowed as long as a suitable diversion route is available and an appropriate road closure order is obtained from us.
- For classified roads, bus routes and certain roads deemed to be traffic-sensitive by the Council closure will not be permitted.
No charge will be made for road closures for national events.
We do not insist on you having public liability insurance but we strongly recommend event organisers to obtain it from a private insurer.
If you want to have a pay bar or intend to provide entertainment to the wider public, or charge to raise money for your event, you will need a Temporary Event Notice which is a type of temporary licence and costs £21. If you need a Temporary Events Notice you can download the guidance and form or call 01274 432240.
More information
More helpful tips, advice and support for organising a successful event can be found on the
Streets Alive website and the
Big Lunch website