What counts as an event?

Normal Enjoyment of Council Land meets the following criteria:

• does not include electricity, gazebos or sound systems
• guests are usually known to one another
• no publicity is distributed about the gathering
• food is provided by guests for their own enjoyment and does not involve external caterers or items being sold to the public in any form
• Council Land is not fenced off, outlined or demarcated in any way either before or during its use

Given that events are, by definition, not part of 'normal enjoyment' of the space, they are said to constitute a ‘change of use’. Each space will have only a certain number of days per calendar year on which such change of use is permitted – usually 28 days (under Schedule 2, Part 4, Class B of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015). This is referred to as ‘permitted development’. Note that the 28 days includes any time needed for set-up and break-down of events. If any event requires more days than can be allocated under permitted development, then planning permission is required.

This is why such careful consideration needs to be given to which events are permitted in a particular space.

Please note that it is the responsibility of the land-owner to make sure that they are not allowing too many event days on their land. If you are planning to operate an event on private land, you, as the event organiser, should check with the land-owner that they are aware of their responsibilities in this regard.

Commercial – an event that is intended to generate a profit such as festivals, commercial music, theatre or comedy events, trade fairs, corporate events, marketing activities for profit making organisations, and funfairs and circuses. Any event where there is profit, will be classified as commercial, regardless of whether it falls in any of the other categories below.

Charity – an event that is organised with the sole purpose of raising money for charity. All proceeds (over and above costs) will be for charity.

Community – an event that is organised by a charity, voluntary or community group in support of the community, for the benefit of the District or local residents. A community event is free for the public to attend and there will be no significant commercial benefit opportunities for profit-making businesses.

Funfair – an event that brings in four or more fairground rides.

Education – an event organised by an education establishment for their students or wider community.

Promotional/marketing events - Promotions, product launches, road shows or media events, generally open to the public.

Private hire and corporate events – These may include weddings, private parties, away-days, conferences, gala dinners, award ceremonies, and other similar events. These will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Market - Anything that has five or more traders; is open to the public (free of charge); and is within 6⅔ miles of St Albans Market, Harpenden Market or Redbourn Market counts as a market and would require a licence from the St Albans Markets team because SADC is the Market Authority in this area.

Size of event is determined based on the number of attendees expected:

• Small group or organised sporting or fitness activities, generallyinvolving fewer than 50 participants per session, for which there are separate booking or licensing processes in place https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/asset-management
• Residential street parties are not considered public events and must not be advertised to people who do not live in the area immediately around any road closure. Applications to close a road for a street party must be done via Herts County Council https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/highways-roads-and-pavements/changes-to-your-road/street-parties-and-special-events.aspx

• Filming – https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/filming-district
• Trading at St Albans Market– https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/trade-st-albans-markets
• Concessions stall or van in one of the parks or green spaces – https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/asset-management
• Handing out flyers – Anyone wanting to hand out promotional or advertising flyers or provide free giveaways to the public should apply for a street trading licence – https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/street-trading-consents
• Pop-up activities and promotions - if you are a charity or businesses and would like to provide an activity, performance or promotion in the city centre on a busy market day, we have opportunities available https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/st-albans-market-activities-and-events. For non-market days, please contact events@stalbans.gov.uk.
• Street trading - If you wish to sell something, including handing out forms to sign up to a membership or paid-for service in the city centre on a non-market day, this is not considered an event, so is not covered by these rules. In this instance you will most likely need to apply for a street trading consent to trade in the city centre https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/street-trading-consents.
• Activities that constitute Normal Enjoyment.