Event management plan template: what to include

If you're running an event on council land — or anywhere a Safety Advisory Group takes an interest — you'll be asked for an event management plan (EMP). This guide explains what one is, what the standard sections are, and how to fill them in without drowning.

What an event management plan is

An EMP is the single document that tells your council, the emergency services and everyone working at your event how it will run safely. It covers who is in charge, what happens on the day, and what happens when something goes wrong.

Most UK councils ask for one before they'll let you use their land, and Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs) — panels with council, police, fire, ambulance and highways representatives — use it as the basis of their review. There's no single national format: nearly every council publishes its own template, and they're all arranged differently. The content they expect, though, is remarkably consistent.

The sections almost every council expects

• Event overview — what, where, when, expected attendance, audience profile.
• Organiser details — who is legally responsible, with names and contact numbers for the day.
• Site plan — a map showing entrances, exits, stages or attractions, first aid points, and emergency access routes.
• Crowd management — expected numbers, how people arrive and leave, stewarding arrangements.
• Traffic management — parking, road closures, keeping vehicles and pedestrians apart.
• Emergency procedures — what stops the event, who decides, evacuation routes, how you'll communicate.
• First aid and welfare — cover appropriate to your crowd, plus toilets, water and lost children procedures.
• Risk assessments — usually appended: a general event risk assessment and a fire risk assessment.
• Vendors and contractors — who's trading or building on site and what paperwork you hold for them.
• Licences and permissions — temporary event notices, landowner consent, insurance details.

A village fete might cover all of that in eight pages. A festival needs far more. Match the depth to the event, not to the longest template you've seen.

Why every council's template is different

Councils developed their event paperwork independently, usually after their own local incidents and reviews, so the same information ends up under different headings in a different order. Birmingham's form doesn't look like Manchester's, and neither looks like a rural district's.

That's a nuisance rather than a problem. If your plan covers the sections above with honest detail, most events teams will accept it or tell you exactly what to move where. If your council publishes a template, use their structure — it makes the reviewer's job easier, and a happy reviewer is worth having. We've written short guides to what several councils ask for, including Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

How much detail is enough?

A reviewer wants to see that you've actually thought about your event — not that you can copy boilerplate. Two honest sentences about how you'll manage the car park at a 300-person fete beat a page of generic text about 'implementing robust vehicular protocols'.

Write it plainly. Name real people. Use real numbers. Where you don't know something yet (final vendor list, exact stewarding rota), say so and date when you'll confirm it. SAGs read hundreds of these; vague ones generate questions, and questions generate delay.

Common mistakes that slow approval down

• Submitting late. Many SAGs want a draft weeks or months before the event — check your council's events page as early as you can. Our SAG guide explains the process.
• A site plan that doesn't match the text, or no site plan at all.
• Copying another event's plan and forgetting to change the details. Reviewers notice the wrong village name immediately.
• No named decision-maker for stopping the event.
• Missing risk assessments — the EMP and the risk assessment are usually expected together.

Common questions

Is an event management plan a legal requirement?

There's no law that names the document, but the duties behind it are real: organisers must plan events so people aren't put at risk, and landowners and licensing authorities can — and do — require an EMP before granting permission. In practice, if your event is on council land or reviewed by a SAG, you'll need one.

How long should an EMP be?

As long as it needs to be and no longer. Small community events are often covered well in 8–15 pages. If a section doesn't apply, say 'not applicable' and why, rather than deleting it — it shows the reviewer you considered it.

Can EventSafetyPack write my EMP for me?

It drafts one from your plain-English description, in the structure councils expect. You then review, edit and sign it — you remain the responsible person, and you'll always know your event better than any tool.