Formal approach to the authorities

If you have taken my advice, without formal agreement and approval of the authorities, you will not yet have spent any money or committed to any expenditure. When formal approval and licenses are granted, if you are still satisfied with the financial viability of your event, you can start making or confirming bookings and orders, bypaying deposits.

To obtain formal approval and licenses, you will be making presentations to various organisations, explaining to them the details of your proposed event and the plans that you have made. You will show that you have been conscientious in your attempt to make your event comply with legislation and regulations, as well as being successful, enjoyable and safe.

Representatives of each organisation may require you to make a presentation to them in person, or may ask you to submit your proposals and plans to a committee or small group, who will consider them in private.

The organisations you may have to contact to give your formal presentation could include:

• *local highways authority (direction signs),
• *local authority planning committee (signs/advertising),
• local environmental health (food sales and waste disposal),
• *local police event liaison team,
• local police traffic department,
• *local fire and rescue service,
• * local health authority (first aid/ambulance),
• *local first aid organisation (Red Cross etc.),
• local health and safety executive office,
• *any appropriate sports governing body,
• *any appropriate club or company senior management,
• local coast guard (fireworks or boating event),
• local harbour master (boating event),
• local environment agency office (fishing/rivers event),
• local airport (fireworks limitations), and
• various potential suppliers and sponsors.

The organisations that I have asterisked should probably be approached and contacted in all cases, and are those that you are most likely to need to approach. You may have to add to and modify this list, to include any authority or organisation that has control over unique aspects of your event.

Joint committees

In some areas, the local authorities are working together to improve their service and response to event managers. In some areas the authorities have introduced ‘joint committees’, where council, police, fire and first aid representatives form a single committee which meets to review and consider all event applications.

You may have to make one or many presentation to finally obtain all of the approvals, licenses and authorisations required to organise and run your event.