Balloon Festival Response

Make it York has a robust procedure when considering all of our events, and all factors are considered and analysed in our decision-making process.

These include, but not limited to; logistical and operational planning, Licensing, infrastructure and health and safety, evaluation and delivery confidence. All areas which did not meet criteria within the application presented by the event organisers. The submission lacked fully auditable plans for site operations, including insufficient detail on set-up and takedown scheduling, Traffic Management, and Counter Terrorism strategies.  The proposal did not provide adequate assurance or documentation related to event licensing, infrastructure needs (particularly in light of the site's intricacies), nor a comprehensive health and safety framework inclusive of crowd management and emergency protocols.

 Given the size and nature of a ballon festival it is essential that all supporting documentation is provided to ensure this can be assessed fully.  There had been significant concerns following the previous event regarding Health and Safety particularly in relation to noise levels and other incidents. Make It York will not at any time compromise the health and safety of residents and visitors.

Sarah Loftus said ‘Make it York hold the premise licence for this venue, we have to be confident that all the requirements are met, this application did not satisfy these elements. We know that the lack of information would not meet SAG (Safety Advisory Group) requirements and the Expression of Interest to run the event was the organisors opportunity to demonstrate how he would operate as per our licence conditions, so we were unable to progress to the next stage.’