Street Play
With more apartments and houses built on smaller blocks of land, the capability to be able to play on the street is important for children and families. Waverley Council has adopted a Street Play initiative to help keep children active and bring communities together.
A Street Play event involves people congregating within a section of road or participating streets that temporarily limit vehicular traffic to allow children and families to play and socialise safely.
Street Play events are funded and organised by residents (with some support from Council), which have up to 100 attendees and take place in a single or linked couple of streets. They must not have any structures such as stages or receive external publicity, and do not require any licences.
Street Play events are not parties that can be advertised on social media to the general public – they must not attract people from outside the immediate community. Products (food or otherwise) are not permitted for sale unless authorised by Council. Street Play events that seek to make simultaneous use of adjacent open spaces require additional permitting.
Steps involved in organising a Street Play event:
- Download the application form – this is a great starting point for your planning.
- Discuss your plans with your neighbours.
- Work out who will do what. For traffic controllers, download these guidelines.
- Let neighbours and businesses know by letterbox drop (or note under the front door) that you are submitting an application to host an event in your street at a proposed day and period of time. Include properties that are located on or accessed by the road(s) you wish to close, and properties with pedestrian access onto the street. Give them a contact to respond to if they wish.
- Submit your application. Allow at least 2 weeks for your application to be processed.
- Once approved, organise tables, shelter, food etc.
- Invite neighbours. You need to ensure that the event is accessible to the local community.
- Enjoy the event! Ensure you have a group of helpers to assist in the clean up afterwards.
Council may be able to offer support to help you have a safe event by providing guidance on road closure signs, stop/slow bats and safety vests for traffic controllers, basic training for the person(s) nominated for traffic control and advising NSW Police of your application.
Things to consider before applying
Closing the road for events is usually OK for streets with low traffic volumes, low speeds and minimal through traffic.
Before applying, consider whether you could hold your event within the footpath, verge or parking spaces or within public open space at the end of the street or nearby. These alternatives could prove easier to manage on the day.
Closing the road does not give you exclusive access to the closed section. Vehicular access for residents and emergency services must still be possible under guidance, and the general public has the right to pass through and pause within the closed section of road. You do not have the authority to asked others to move on.
Council will consider applications for road closures for community events involving up to 100 people. If your event is smaller than 30 people, you may consider holding it on the footpath or another area which doesn’t require approval. For gatherings of more than 100 people, please refer to Use of public spaces and our Events Policy. You may need additional Council approvals.
Friday evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are best for community events. Some events may be held on a weekday evening (e.g. Halloween). Events mid-week that run late can disturb residents, so try to finish your event by 7pm to minimise noise issues.
Amplified noise should be avoided and PA systems should not be used for small events of this nature.
A traffic management plan is simply a record of what you plan to do and how you plan to manage the traffic. Managing traffic relies on someone setting up and taking down the road closure, and someone being available to assist if a driver of a vehicle needs access into or out of the closed section of road. If on-street parking is affected, you will need to advise how you will be accommodating this.
Most of the details required are covered by the completion of the application form. However, it doesn’t hurt for you to have your own separate plan which expands on these details, and which can be distributed to neighbours involved in organising the event.
The provision of public liability insurance is non-negotiable. Council will advise you on what insurance is required and how it can be obtained.
If things do not go to plan or are outside of your control, including unplanned visitors from outside your neighbourhood or excessive noise, you can call the police if you feel the need to do so.
For more information, email traffic@waverley.nsw.gov.au or call 9083 8000.
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