Guide to closing a road for a street party or event

Traditional street party

A traditional street party has:

  • simple tables and chairs on one road
  • less than 500 people attending
  • no sale of alcohol 
  • no entertainment like live music or performances 

and it is:

  • for residential streets
  • organised by local residents not a business
  • a free event

You'll need a Street Party Road Closure Order and no other licence. You won't be charged for it.

Allow at least 8 weeks to apply for the road closure.

Large street party

A large street party has one or more of the following:

  • less than 500 people attending
  • sale of alcohol
  • entertainment like live music or performances

and it is:

  • organised by local residents not a business
  • a free event

You'll need a:

You won't be charged for a Street Party Road Closure Order.

Allow at least 8 weeks to apply for the Street Party Road Closure Order and the Temporary Event Notice.

Street event

A street event has one or more of the following:

  • more than one road closed
  • more than 500 people attending. If more than 5000 are attending, you should give us 8 months notice. If more than 20,000 are attending, you should give us 12 months notice.
  • sale of alcohol
  • entertainment like live music or performances
  • items like portable toilets, generators, staging, funfair rides, catering, trade stalls and lighting on site

You'll need either a:

  • Street Party Road Closure Order, or
  • Section 16 application form

Street Party Road Closure Order

You'll need a Street Party Road Closure Order if your event:

  • has less than an estimated 1000 people attending
  • doesn't involve closing a traffic sensitive road

A Street Party Road Closure Order is free.

Section 16

You'll need a Section 16 if your event is a large street event and involves the closure of a traffic sensitive road or if you want to close more than one road.

A Section 16 costs £654. There's an extra charge of £655 if it: 

  • involves multiple roads
  • is city-wide
  • is likely to require additional Council resources, such as attendance by Network Management Officer, due to the nature of the event

Contact traffic@bristol.gov.uk if you're not sure the road you want to close is likely to have a strong impact on traffic. 

In both cases you'll also need:

You should allow:

  • 8 weeks to apply for the road closure and premises license
  • three months to apply for the site permission and the Section 16 licence

We won't accept late applications.

Apply as a business

As a business you need to email site.permissions@bristol.gov.uk to discuss your ideas and get further guidance, regardless of the size of your event.

You will need to provide:

  • 3 months' notice of the event
  • A Risk Assessment form
  • Proof of Public Liability Insurance
  • The appropriate fee
Apply for a Road Closure Order

Apply for a Road Closure Order

When you apply you'll need to:

  • upload a street closure plan, such as a screenshot or a sketch map
  • let us know what signs and barriers you'll have in place to make sure your road closure is safe
  • attach a copy of your letter to residents, telling them about the road closure
Apply for a Section 16

Before you apply you'll need to:

During your application you'll need to upload a:

Make sure you have all your documents ready as you won't be able to save your form once you start.

Apply for a Section 16  

Contact traffic@bristol.gov.uk if you have questions about filling in a Section 16 form.

Cost

An application fee of £654 is payable with each application. A further charge of £655 may be charged for events that:

  • include multiple roads
  • are city-wide
  • require support from a Council Network Management Officer
  • are likely to require additional Council resource owing to the nature of the event

We'll let you know on receipt of application if you need to pay the additional charge.
You must provide a Purchase Order or other reference and correct address for invoicing purposes.

Refunds

Within four weeks of application date a cancellation fee of 10% will apply.  Anything after this time is charged at 100%.

Any cancellation requests must be in writing.

What we do after we get your application

After we receive your application form, we'll:

  • talk to people who may be affected by the road closure
  • let the Police, emergency services and bus operators know about the road closure
  • write a legal Order for you to display on the street before your event
  • give you advice on how to manage traffic if needed

We'll contact you if there are any problems with your application.

If approved, you can expect to receive your legal closure Order seven to ten days before the event. 

Marches, processions and races

You won't need a road closure or any other licence if your event is moving, such as a march, procession or race.

Your event can be managed safely with marshals.

Email traffic@bristol.gov.uk at least four weeks before the event.

You'll need to tell us:

  • date and times of the event
  • the roads affected
  • nature of the event
  • proposed traffic management measures
  • the contact name and numbers of the organiser

We'll contact you after we've received you're application to let you know what you need to do next.

Road closure and diverted traffic signs

To close your road safely, you'll need:

  • road closed signs at each point of the road closure
  • road ahead closed signs at the junction before
  • a small barrier of cones to show where the road is closed (if only part of a road is closed)

You'll need diversion signs if you're closing more than a small local road. These must be at the:

  • start of where traffic needs to be diverted
  • end of the diversion

The diverted traffic signs must be at each significant junction along the route of the diversion.

The Street Party site and Playing Out can also give you advice on how to get road closure signs.

You should be able to get signs and cones free from your local community centre. You can also check our list of suppliers.

Tell us about a problem with a form, page or online account