Planning Your Public Event

Points to consider

• Licences required
• Anyone can attend
• External publicity (newspapers, banners/ posters, flyers etc)
• Insurances needed
• Risk Assessments essential Professional / skilled organisers

Peace of mind

This section of the guide is here to help you create your event, the Event Safety Management Plan and other event documents required by the Event Safety Advisory Group to assess your event and the safety aspects of your event. This will give you peace of mind and the knowledge that your event planning work meets all the requirements of the Council, the Emergency Services and, most importantly, the expectations of the members of the public attending.

Event Aims and Objectives

In the early stages of planning it is very useful to think about the aims and objectives of the event. This will be a very helpful guideline as you start to create your event, its content and programming, develop your promotional material and decide where and when the best time to hold your event will be.

Questions to consider

• Why are you holding the event?
• Who are the people that will attend?
• Where would be the best place to stage it?
• What sort of activities will be included?
• How will we let people know about the event?
• How will we measure the success of the event?

Event Organising Committee and Event Management Team

For any size of event it is very helpful to be able to share the responsibilities of the event and have a group of people around you able to complete all the tasks. On the day of the event, having a team of people around you that have been with you throughout the planning process will help to ensure the smooth operation of the event.

Funding the event

You need to consider how you will be able to pay for the activities, services and any charges and bonds for potential reinstatement costs that may be required for your event. You will need to set a budget and identify who can pay for what, and importantly, when they will need paying.

Where to hold the event and when

So you have decided to hold an event, and have in place your organising group and the aims and objectives for your event. You now need to know when and where the event can be held.

We have produced a guide discussing the key locations in and around the City Centre, and why Preston is a great place to host your event.

You can read the guide here: Your Guide to Outdoor Event Locations in Preston.

Preston City Council has a number of key event locations in the city suitable for a range of different event activities:

• University Square (UCLan)
• Avenham and Miller Parks
• Moor Park
• Preston Bus Station
• The Flag Market

Alternative locations for events are:

• Privately owned venues (Sports clubs, Pubs, Hotels, University etc)
• Privately owned land (Sports clubs, Pubs and Hotels, Schools etc)
• Public Highways (your own street for example)

Once you have established suitable locations you will need to make a direct approach to the owners.

For all Preston City Council locations you will be able to email directly using the events@preston.gov.uk email address. Your request will then be put to the relevant manager of that location to check availability and suitability of the event.

For all other locations you will need to approach the owner or manager of that venue and get written permission that you can use the land for your event. For non-city council locations your primary contact will be the Licensing Section of the City Council, as you may need to apply for a Premises Licence or Temporary Events Notice (TEN) to hold your event, if no licence is already in place.

For more information please visit Event safety management plan, licensing section.

Suppliers for the event

You will need to source all of the suppliers for your event activities. When sourcing your programme, infrastructure and food concession suppliers, you will need to collect certain documents from each of them, such as their Risk Assessments and their Public Liability Insurance documents.

This is to make sure that you are employing the services of good professional organisations, and you will be meeting your responsibilities under Health and Safety legislation for the event. Always make sure you are getting the best service providers. It is what your audience will be expecting from you.

What kind of activities, music programming, workshops, site decoration, artists and performances do you want to see at your event?

• What security and stewarding services will you be using?
• How will you manage the waste and recycling required for the event?
• Where can you get these services?
• How much do they cost and are they available on the day of your event?
• What kind of staging, sound and lighting, marquees, fencing and food suppliers will you be using?

It is very useful when submitting your event plan that you include the answers to the above and a good outline of the expected activities for the event.