Organising outdoor events in Wirral

If you are planning an outdoor event in Wirral, the Wirral Event Safety Advisory Group can help you plan it safely. Anyone holding an outdoor public event must notify us.

Wirral Event Safety Advisory Group

The Wirral Event Safety Advisory Group (WESAG) gives professional advice to people who are organising events in Wirral.

It provides one point of contact for organisations that can help you deliver a safe event. These include:

  • Wirral Council licensing
  • Parks and countryside
  • Highways
  • Environmental health
  • Health and safety
  • Community safety
  • Merseyside Police
  • Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service
  • North West Ambulance Service
  • Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Why you need to notify us

If you are organising an event in Wirral, certain organisations must be told. They need to know about all public events so that they can help organisers keep staff, volunteers, and the public safe.

When you complete the event notification form, we will pass your information on to the relevant organisations for you. This will save you time.

What events you must tell us about

You must tell us about all outdoor events that are open to the public, no matter how big or small.

When to tell us about your event

Tell us about your event as early as possible.

We ask for:

  • a minimum of 4 months’ notice for most events
  • longer notice for large events

This allows local authority teams and emergency services to review your plans and give advice.

If you do not give enough notice, WESAG may not be able to review your plans fully. If this happens, your event will not be classed as a safe event.

Information you need to provide

Please complete the form with as much detail as possible about your event.

You will need to send us:

  • your event safety plan
  • your risk assessment
  • your Public Liability Insurance details

You should send them no later than 2 months before your event. The documents should be emailed to events@wirral.gov.uk.

We have prepared a checklist to help you complete your event safety plan and risk assessment (PDF).

Will you need to attend a meeting?

Some events may need a meeting with WESAG. This allows all the relevant bodies to talk with you about your plans in more detail.

Not all events will need a meeting. Many recommendations can be given by email or phone.

Event planning and safety

Before you submit your event, you must think about all safety and security risks.
You must show what you will do to keep staff, volunteers, and attendees safe.

If you would like advice before you submit your form, email events@wirral.gov.uk.

How to tell us about an event

Complete the notification of event form so we can give you the right advice and guidance.

Save your form by creating an account

You will need to give us lots of details in this form. It might take a while to fill in. To save your progress and come back later, you will need to create a MyWirral account.

Creating an account means:

  • you can stop and come back any time
  • you won’t lose your answers

If you don’t want to create an account, you can still fill in the form but you will need to finish it in one go. You won’t be able to save it or come back later.

Notification of event form

Essential guides for planning events

The guides below provides information on planning an event and your responsibilities.

The PDF files below may not be suitable to view for people with disabilities, users of assistive technology or mobile phone devices. PDF maps are more suitable to view on a large screen over a wifi connection.

If you are wanting to organise a community-led bonfire or firework event, please download the additional guidance below.

Other things you might need to consider

You may also need to look at:

Further information

The following information may be helpful for organising your event: