14th April 2026
A point that can be easily overlooked – Local Authorities sit at the centre of the event ecosystem (which is why the discussion around Primary Authority is so timely).
On any given day, Local Authority events teams are balancing licensed events, community activity, cultural programming, infrastructure pressures and public safety, often across multiple locations at once – all the while trying to maintain business as usual in a live city environment.
Their colleagues, too, in the planning department might also be processing planning applications for temporary event infrastructure linked to forthcoming events or national commemorations.
I’ve been having conversations with many who highlight just how complex their picture has become, particularly as expectations around coordination, safety and transparency continue to grow, not least in the context of Martyn’s Law.
The challenge at the centre of this is that information sits in different places, sometimes treated confidentially, sometimes subject to permissions, licensing or internal controls.
Different teams, different systems, different partners – all holding part of the picture.
And in many cases, there’s also a natural separation between a Local Authority’s overarching role and its involvement in organising, promoting or supporting events directly and overcoming its own protocols and governance frameworks.
That separation is important, but it can also create points where information doesn’t always flow as easily as it might.
Which makes it harder to answer some simple questions:
What’s happening?
Where is it happening?
When is it taking place?
And how does that connect across time and place?
But also for Local Authorities:
Who is aware of what – and when?
Where do pressures start to build across services, infrastructure or communities?
And how easily can that picture be shared across teams and partners when it needs to be?
Because that same challenge doesn’t stop at Local Authorities – it carries through into sectors like the Night-Time Economy, where visibility across venues and activity becomes just as critical.
The National Events Database is designed to support that shared view – making activity visible in time and place enabling Local Authorities to see the wider picture alongside their own planning and coordination.
If you’re working in or alongside a Local Authority, I’d be interested to understand whether this kind of shared visibility would support your role – and what it would need to show to be genuinely useful.
