Guide to closing a road for a street party or event

2. Large street party

A larger street party has:

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

You’ll need:

• free road closure (TPCA) 
• Temporary Event Notice (TEN) which costs £21

Allow at least six weeks to apply for the road closure and the Temporary Event Notice

3. Street event

A street event has:

• 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 portaloos, generators, staging, funfair rides, catering, trade stalls and lighting on site

You’ll need a:

• road closure (TPCA), which is free, or a section 16, which costs £500 - £1000. To check which one you need, contact us at traffic@bristol.gov.uk
• premises license
• outdoor event site permission 

You should allow:

• at least 3 months to apply for the site permission.
• at least six weeks to apply for the road closure and premises license. 

Late applications won't be accepted.

4. Apply for a road closure (TPCA)

Apply for a road closure (pdf, 72k) (opens new window)

You must answer all the questions.

It can take longer if information or documents are missing.

You must use the street party letter template to send your notification letters. If you use your own wording your application will rejected.

5. What we do after we get your application

After we receive your application form we:

• talk to people who may be affected by the road closure 
• let the Police know about the road closure
• write a legal order for you to display on the street before your event
• add your road closure details to our road closures report
• give you advice on how to manage traffic if needed

You'll need to check the street party road closures report to see if your closure has been approved.

6. 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
• roads affected
• nature of the event
• proposed traffic management measures
• contact name and numbers of the organiser

7. Road closure 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, if only part of a road is closed
• a small barrier of cones to show where the road is closed 

8. Diverted traffic signs

You'll need diversion signs if you're closing more than a small local road.

If traffic needs to be diverted, you’ll need a diversion sign at the start of where traffic needs to be diverted and at the end of the diversion.

You’ll also need diverted traffic signs along the route of the diversion. 

You should be able to get signs free from your local community centre, or you can contact a local supplier to hire them.

Streets Alive and Playing Out can also give you advice on how to get road closure signs .

9. Other road closures in your area

We update our street party road closures report every Monday and Thursday.

10. Contact us

If you want to speak to someone about a proposed street party or event road closure, call Jack Terry on 0117 903 6857 or email jack.terry@bristol.gov.uk