Planning your event
Event safety information for organisers
The City of York Event Safety Advisory Group promote and encourage high standards of public safety and wellbeing at events held in York.
They've produced the following guides for event organisers:
These guides should be read in addition to any legal requirements and government guidance.
As part of your planning, we ask that you refer to The Purple Guide for more advice.
Read government guidance about holding an event during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Counter Terrorism and events
City of York Council, North Yorkshire Police and the Counter Terrorism Police North East are working together to provide event organisers with advice and support on how to counter the threat of terrorism when planning an event in the City of York. The threat from terrorism is real and increasingly unpredictable, with public spaces and crowded areas being an attractive target for a terrorist. The threat level from terrorism in the UK currently stands at ‘SUBSTANTIAL’ which means an attack is likely.
We would like you to consider what ‘you’ can do to reduce your risk and mitigate against the impact of such an attack. Having effective planning in place can greatly reduce the likelihood of an attack.
You may be familiar with putting together a plan for your event and will know how to address many of the requirements around safety but you may not be so familiar with security issues and terrorism in particular. Here are some of the things we would like you to consider when putting your plan together, this is not an exhaustive list and at the end of this document we have signposted you to websites where more information can be obtained.
Security Planning
We would encourage you to produce a security plan addressing the terrorism threat which should take account of attack methodology and your vulnerabilities. Key issues for inclusions would be:
- before the event, how will you advertise it, be careful not to give too much information out that might assist a terrorist in planning an attack - consider what can be included to deter this, we call this deterrence communications
- your site itself, starting from the approach, the perimeter to inside where the event is taking place - what is the risk and what can you do to mitigate against it?
- Communications, key to managing any incident, are yours ‘fit for purpose? It’s not just about how you communicate with your staff but also the public
- staff training for both paid and volunteers - there is some excellent free online training to raise awareness and to empower your staff
The Safety Advisory Group strongly recommend planning for a terrorist incident and may ask you for details of your security plan when considering your application.
You can read further information to protect your event from terrorism from;