The Town of Cambridge has a variety of open spaces suitable for use as small- and large-scale event sites. Large-scale events may include corporate and community events, concerts, performances, and sporting events. The Town uses a Categories model to determine event sizes and impacts; be sure to review the Events Categories Guide before submitting your interest. The guide will indicate the Category of your event, however, feel free to chat to our team if you’d like to discuss your event individually. We’re happy to talk through the process and give you a provisional event categorisation.
So there is enough time to obtain all required approvals it is necessary that you contact us well ahead of the proposed event date.
Category 1 Events require at least ten working days’ notice (see our Parks For Hire webpage).
Category 2 and Category 3 Events require at least three months’ notice.
Category 4 and Category 5 Events require at least six months’ notice.
Ready to get the ball rolling? Read through for next steps.
Site maps, risk management plans, insurances! All events require a significant level of compliance and other information to assess and so, to ensure that the process is as stress-free as possible, the Town has developed timeframes for applications.
Applications for Category 2 and Category 3 Events must be made at least three months before the proposed event date.
Applications for Category 4 and Category 5 Events must be made at least six months before the date.
This is to ensure that all necessary information for the event can be generated by yourself as the event organiser and evaluated by Town Officers. To ensure events are safe and successful, we’ll require detailed information from you and, sometimes, we’ll need to liaise with you closely to ensure that information and documents meet a standard that we can assess. Once we have all the information from you we may still require two-to-three weeks to review information and compliance requirements, prepare approvals, and get in touch with you to either green-light your event or discuss areas of concern.
Unfortunately, applications that aren’t supported by detailed information from you as the event organiser cannot be considered for approval. But don’t worry. Our team are here to help. The next sections will take you through some of the routine information and documentation that we’ll need from you.
Do you know what to do if one of your athletes takes a tumble on the track? Or how to manage a marquee that falls in a heap? Don’t risk it for the biscuit! Instead, start your event planning by considering the potential misadventures that might occur during the set-up, the event, and the pack down. These are your event’s risks.
Once you’ve determined your event’s risks, you’ll need to consider how likely they are to occur and what the consequences could be if the risk comes about. Applying solid safety and communication measures can often reduce the risk. Remember, every risk needs to have some strategy to reduce its impact should it occur and these strategies should be actionable (can do) and implemented (will do).
Once you’ve completed the thinking, it’s time for a write-up! Commit those risks and strategies to paper by completing your Risk Management Plan. Feel free to use the Town's Excel template below.
Risk Assessment Template(XLSX, 433KB)
Need more guidance? Both Safe Work Australia and WorkSafe WA maintain a number of free guides and resources to assist you with thinking about risks at your event. While risk sounds daunting it’s a vital component of event success. If you need assistance then please reach out to our team for help.
After completing your Risk Management Plan you hopefully feel more safe than sorry! So read on for the next important event document.
Just as every pirate needs their trusty treasure map, every event organiser needs a highly detailed site map. These site maps are essential as they communicate your usage of the open space to the Town, to your contractors and vendors, and sometimes to your attendees on the event day. Use the Town’s Intramaps system to obtain high quality aerial imagery of your planned open space and then mark up your image using a computer program such as Word or Paint to show the features and amenities of your event. Remember, X may mark the spot on treasure maps but without a legend on your site map we won’t know what X means. So please make sure to include a legend that explains the symbols used in your site map.
As site maps can be a particular challenge for event organisers, the Town has developed a full guide and checklist for event organisers.
Site Map Guide(PDF, 176KB)
Site Map Example
Now that you’ve prepared your site map, set sail for advice on our other event information requirements.
If event success is your goal then an event plan will be part of your plan. Event plans detail the actions, timings, and activities for your event from the time setting up begins onsite to the time that the last contractor has left. Event plans must include detailed timings and notes to ensure that you can keep track of all the comings and goings throughout the event. Event plans also help us to understand the flow of your event and how you plan on spending your time on the open space. The Town has an event plan template you can use and this template has some further advice.
Event Plan Template(XLSX, 250KB)
Stuck on a step? Reach out to our team to get some recommendations and event plan pointers.
Depending on your proposed event, our team may require other plans, documents, or information to make an assessment for event approval. You may need to provide some of the below when applying:
- Parking Management Plan – how parking will be managed at the event
- Traffic Management Plan – if your event requires road closures
- Waste Management Plan – how waste generated by your event will be managed
- Notification letter – if a letter drop is required then we’ll want to ensure that nearby residents and businesses are all on the same page about the event
- Insurance documents
- Details of marquees/structures planned for the event
- Other information or documentation as required by the nature of the event
Large events come with large lists of requirements but our team are here to support you in your application. If you’re not quite ready to submit your application then please feel free to reach out to our team to chat about your event.
If you’re ready to submit an application then proceed to the next page to view an overview of the process and complete the Large Event Application Form.
Thank you for reading through our information on Large Event requirements. Hopefully by this stage you should have a fair idea about your event and may already be in the early stages of drafting compliance documents and information. You’ll have the opportunity to add these documents directly to your application, however, if you’ve yet to create these plans then it’s not to worry. Our team will liaise with you directly on receipt of your application.
Apply to hold a large event