Parties told to have ‘unnecessary’ insurance

STREET party organisers are being forced to take out unnecessary insurance as council “killjoys” threaten to dampen celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Labour-run Liverpool city council said that in order for a jubilee street party to be considered, each event needed “to be covered by public liability insurance paid for by the organiser”.

They added that the council would not provide public liability insurance which had “to be sourced via an external company for approximately £50”.

The Department for Levelling Up,

Housing & Communities has urged councils to take a “light touch” approach to jubilee events and says there is “no central government requirement to have public liability insurance”.

Street party organisers in Liverpool appear to have no means of challenging the requirement to purchase insurance.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that Liverpool council had received 85 jubilee street party applications as of May 20 – a small number for a large city.

A Liverpool council spokesman said: “We are versed in staging large and small outdoor events and understand the importance of having public liability insurance in place – it minimises risk and ensures precautionary measures are in place in the case of unforeseen incidents. Sixty one parties have been approved, and the city council has been pleased to make planning as easy as possible for residents by waiving road closure fees which can cost in the region of £2,000.”

The council said that the 24 street party applications which are not going ahead were because of applicants no longer wanting to proceed, rather than the insurance aspect.

There have been reports in recent days of local authorities turning down requests for street party celebrations. Johnny Mercer, a Tory MP, said: “We shouldn’t let killjoys spoil the Jubilee.”