Wealden District Council is able to provide Temporary Road Closure Orders under section 21 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 for community events and celebrations such as bonfire processions, street parties and Christmas shopping events.
We will process such Temporary Road Closure Orders without charge.
Such Orders cannot be used for road and street works (which are covered by East Sussex Council – Roads and Roadworks as highway authority) or for events where the main aim is to make a profit for one or more organisations, such as farmer’s markets.
Applications
The following three documents are required to process an Order. Items (1) and (3) are available to download below:
1) A completed Road Closure Application Form signed and dated by the person responsible for the event. The time requested for the closure should include for setting up signage on the road and the diversion route and clearing the same away after the event.
2) An Ordnance Survey map extract showing the extent of the closure and its associated diversion or the route of the moving procession.
3) A completed Road Closure Health and Safety form . This will be passed to the Council’s Environmental Health Department so they can analyse the event. Events with no public liability insurance in place are unlikely to be given the go-ahead.
4) For more complicated, larger scale events, we require a basic management plan to be submitted as part of the consultation documents. The plan should include the following information:
- access for emergency vehicles;
- an event timetable relating to the road closure which includes procession start and finish times, if relevant;
- a plan showing barrier locations for the road closure element of the event, including barrier opening/closing times, if relevant. The plan should include marshal locations and an estimate of numbers if known;
- a plan showing where the road closed/road ahead close and, if relevant, diversion signage will be positioned;
- any other information relating to the temporary road closure element of the event that you feel is pertinent.
The minimum time for submission needs to be 12 weeks before the event, as some 4 weeks are taken up by the consultation of the highway authority, emergency services and bus companies. An earlier submission, particularly for major events, would be welcomed. The only exception to the above policy is for events such as major funerals, where advance knowledge of the event date was not possible.
Please contact us if you wish to discuss the matter or to submit an application, using the contact details at the bottom of the page.
If you are applying for a road closure as part of a community event you are organising, you might find the The “Can Do” guide to organising and running voluntary and community events useful. This guide has been produced by the government to help take the confusion out of organising community events.
The Order will be subject to:
- Reasonable pedestrian access being available at all times
- Vehicular access for emergencies being available at all times
- Road closure and diversion signs being erected to the approval of the Highway Authority at the cost of the organiser and removed by them at the end of the temporary closure
- The organiser being responsible for stewarding the event
- The organiser being responsible for clearing the highway immediately after conclusion of the event and for any damage which may be occasioned to the highway, including street furniture, during the entire period of preparation, event and clearing-up operation
- Street fire hydrants must not be obstructed
- No assistance can be given by the Police in removal of vehicles from the closed length of road during the preparation of the event
- No claims will be entertained by the County Council (as highway authority), the District Council, the Town or Parish Council (as street lighting authority) or any statutory undertaker in respect of any accident, damage or injury sustained as a result of the event, the onus is on the organiser to obtain any necessary insurance cover
- The organiser being responsible for notification to all those affected by the order, especially those fronting the order, in writing 14 days prior to the event