IT’S hard enough to encourage community groups to organise public events without first forcing them to make their way through a pile of paperwork.
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Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club president Denis Gregory says he’s had to think twice about organising his annual car show because he simply doesn’t want to spend hours of his time and the club’s resources in order to comply with new council regulations.
The regulations introduced this year are outlined in Orange City Council’s events management kit and cover a wide range of community events staged on council-owned land.
However as Mr Gregory says in today’s Central Western Daily organisers of the car show don’t want pages of red tape to fill out 12 weeks before their event and have no time to produce management and traffic control plans.
Unfortunately holding a public event is no longer as easy as it once was.
Of course Orange City Council is not a lone wolf when it comes to enforcing rules and regulation outlined in lengthy documents.
Many of the protocols covered in the events management kit mirror legislation enforced by other tiers of government.
As council spokesperson Nick Redmond said council wants to ensure all public events held on council land are run in line with contemporary standards as far as risk assessments and insurance coverage is concerned.
Of course in this day and age where people are quick to sue, ensuring both council and event organisers are protected from possible claims is also a top priority.
Despite understanding the reasoning behind it and the good intentions behind those who enforce stricter rules about the organisation of public events, it’s easy to envisage how grassroot community events may soon become a thing of the past.