Event management plan: what Sandwell Council requires

Sandwell — West Bromwich, Oldbury, Smethwick and neighbours, with Sandwell Valley as its flagship green space — asks event organisers for the same core paperwork as every UK council: an event management plan that shows you've thought your event through.

Events in Sandwell: the process in outline

To run an event on Sandwell Council land — parks, Sandwell Valley, town centre spaces — you apply through the council's events process and support the application with documentation: an event management plan, a risk assessment, public liability insurance, and whatever the event's scale adds (traffic plans, medical cover, licensing details). Sandwell operates Safety Advisory Group arrangements for events that need multi-agency eyes, alongside West Midlands Police, Fire and Ambulance services.

A borough events team handles everything from major park events to school fairs — which means a proportionate process exists for small events, and the fastest way onto the right track is an early, honest description of what you're planning.

What your plan should show

Sandwell's reviewers look for the standard EMP content, sized to your event — the full structure is in our template guide:

• The basics: what, where, when, who's responsible, expected numbers.
• A site plan — for park events, show vehicle routes onto grass, and where the public and moving vehicles could meet. That single issue generates more reviewer questions at community events than any other; our traffic guide covers it.
• Stewarding: who, how many, briefed how.
• Emergency procedures and a named decision-maker.
• First aid, toilets, lost children.
• Vendor paperwork — caterers' registration, insurance and gas records; inflatables' inspection certificates and operating rules.

Timing it right

Check the current process and deadlines on sandwell.gov.uk as soon as your date is pencilled in — search for the events team or 'organising an event'. The general UK pattern applies: SAG-reviewed events are commonly asked for drafts 8–14 weeks ahead; smaller events need less runway but more than most first-time organisers allow; anything on the highway needs months. If you're selling alcohol, a Temporary Event Notice needs at least ten working days and covers events up to 499 people at a time.

First-time organisers in the borough — school PTAs, community groups, mosque and church committees — are exactly who council events processes see most. The paperwork is not a test you can fail by being small; it's a test you fail by being late.

Running your first event: a realistic checklist

If this is your group's first event in the borough, the sequence that works is: 1) email the events team with a one-paragraph description and your date; 2) book the space and get the council's requirements in writing; 3) sort insurance (see the level the council expects first); 4) draft the EMP and risk assessment; 5) collect vendor paperwork as bookings are made, not the week before; 6) give a Temporary Event Notice in good time if anything is being sold that needs one. Each step is small; it's doing them in the wrong order that produces the classic three-weeks-to-go panic.

Where EventSafetyPack fits

EventSafetyPack drafts your event management plan and risk assessments from a plain-English description — the community fun day, the fundraiser in the park, the food event on the high street — in the structure councils like Sandwell expect. You review it, correct it where your local knowledge beats ours, and sign it. You remain the responsible person throughout; what we remove is the blank template and the guesswork about what goes in it.