Events on Roads

If you’re planning an event that uses all or some of a road, will be taking away parking spaces or altering the flow of traffic and/or pedestrians from the norm, you'll need to complete an Event Application Form, work through a road closure process and submit a professional traffic management plan.There is a cost to the event organiser for traffic management plan applications to Waipā District Council, you can read more on that here.

You can find the Event Application Form here.

If your event needs a road, Waipā District Council requires at least 90 days’ notice before your event date, to complete the public notification and road closure review process required under the Local Government Act.

If you’re an event organiser using a road, parking or changing the normal flow of road users then here's how it goes:

• the event organiser completes and submits the Event Application Form to Council and hires a traffic management company (TMC) to advise them on their plans
• the TMC creates a traffic/pedestrian management plan with the organiser and submits it to council via Submittica
• event organisers are responsible for telling residents/businesses in the area of their plans, this can be done by a letter drop, email or meeting - whatever works best to communicate with those affected
• Council staff review the event plans and TMPs for feedback and/or approval.

For event organisers who want to temporarily close roads, Waipā District Council needs to follow a legal public notification and approval process additional to the above steps which can take at least 90 days to complete.

• To begin the process, please complete the event application form and provide details of the roads that your event wants to close including the dates and times of the closures. Waipā District Council is required to publicly advertise the planned closures and give the public time to provide feedback. Once the feedback period has closed, a report is sent to Council Committee for consideration
• If Waipā District Council receives objections to the closures, these will be communicated to the event organisers. The event organiser is then responsible for working with the objectors to find solutions, with support from Council. The objections and the outcome of discussions between organisers and objectors will be included in the report to the Service Delivery Committee so Councillors can make an informed decision.
• A second public notice then needs to be published to inform the public that the closures have been approved. This usually happens 7-10 days before the event.
• The cost of public notices and all traffic management related to the road closures are the responsibility of the event organiser.
• While this process is underway, the event organiser completes and submits the Event Application Form to Council and hires a traffic management company (TMC) to advise them on their plans.
• the TMC creates a traffic/pedestrian management plan with the organiser and submits it to council via Submittica.
• event organisers are responsible for telling residents/businesses in the area of their plans, this can be done by a letter drop, email or meeting - whatever works best to communicate with those affected.

If you're not sure where you or your event sits in the above or you’d like to discuss your event and its use of the road corridor you can contact council's events and marketing advisors at events@waipadc.govt.nz or by phoning 0800 324 723.

Objecting to an advertised event road closure

As part of the legal event road closure process, members of the public have the right to object to an advertised closure. This is an open, public process and the objection and the objector’s name may be shared in a public forum such as the report to Council and during the Council committee meeting.

• A two week period is set for the general public to submit objections to an event’s road closure request, as stated in the first published public notice.
• You need to specify which part of the road closure you object to and why. Valid reasons for objecting might include: road safety concerns; access issues; problems experienced during the same or similar events previously.
• Objections must be in writing and are submitted to events@waipadc.govt.nz. Council’s Event Advisor will ask the objector if they are willing to work directly with the event organiser on a solution before the full road closure application and objection goes to a Council committee. This is a great way to develop a plan that works for everyone.
• Council is required to include some of the personal information provided with this written objection in a report to the Council committee assessing the event road closure application. These reports are publicly accessible documents. Please read our Privacy Statement for more information on how and when Council collects and shares personal information.