If you wish to apply for a road closure, please read the following carefully. Please note, the Highway Authority, Lancashire County Council, reserves the right to refuse any road closure, classified or non-classified.
- If the road(s) that you wish to close is (are) not adopted by the County Council and/or it is not a ‘By-Way’, we are unable to issue a Road Closure Order.
- Under the terms of the legislation, the Council must be satisfied that it is necessary to close the road in order to facilitate the event.
- Where there are residents, businesses, bus/taxi operators which may be affected by the closure, the Council will require the event organisers to consult with those parties and confirm that this has been done.
- A non-classified road closure application must be made at least 10 weeks in advance of the date of closure, to allow for consultation with the emergency services, the Highway Authority and bus operators, where required, and a 21 day advertising period.
- A classified road closure application must be made at least 3 months in advance of the date of the closure. A classified road closure and/or a road that is a bus route is unlikely to be approved. However, in exceptional circumstances an application to close a classified road/bus route can be considered, if a professional risk assessment, together with a traffic management plan to be managed by an approved traffic management company on the day of the closure, is attached to the application.
- The event organiser must allow access/egress for all resident vehicles, vehicles serving the community and emergency service vehicles during the closure period.
- The event organiser should satisfy themselves whether or not the event requires public liability insurance and/or other insurances.
- The start time and end time must take into account the time required to set up and take down any furniture etc.
- The event organiser will receive a copy of the road closure notice and plan from the district council, if the closure has been approved. Copies of these should be laminated and posted on lamp posts, sign posts etc. in the vicinity of the closure, using tie wraps or similar, 21 days in advance of the closure. The event organiser must maintain the notices during the 21 day advertising period. The notices and plans must be taken down immediately after the event and nothing must litter the road.
- For all events which require a Road Closure Order, the organisers will be requested to provide a ‘Road Signage Schedule’. This should consist of: (a) a map indicating positions of road closure/route diversion signs/barriers (b) a map indicating positions of marshals/stewards etc (c) description of wording/size/colour of the road closure/diversion signs, barriers etc All signs MUST conform to ‘Traffic Safety Measures & Signs for Road Work & Temporary Situations Act’, (Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 8). A copy of the most commonly used signs will be shared with you. Any cost involved must be borne by the organisers. The organisers will be required to provide marshals or stewards as appropriate depending on the size of the event. If necessary, additional advance signing (‘Road Ahead Closed’) may be required to prevent a vehicle entering a closed road, whereby it would be unable to turn around. The signs must be attached to something solid to make the road closure safe and obvious to all road users. The signs must be taken down immediately after the event and nothing must litter the road.