Events held in public parks and spaces – additional safeguarding considerations

Running events in public spaces can present additional safeguarding challenges. Additional challenges potentially include:

• open spaces without clear event boundaries, restrictions against public viewing, photography or public interaction with children 
• the need for more signage, guidance and visual support
• more stakeholders will need to be aware of the event, such as town council, police, neighbours and transport departments 
• confusion over handover arrangements between parents and event staff due to open spaces 
• other on-site activities happening at the same time 
• shared use of toilet facilities, changing rooms, food halls and so on.

This briefing provides essential guidance for event organisers on how to address these particular challenges.

The guidance should be used in addition to standard event planning guidance.

Author: NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit
Published: 2025

What's covered? 

• Introduction.
• Supervision event management process - this covers what you need to check and risk assess during your pre-event site visit, to feed into your event planning. It also covers safeguarding evaluation after the event.
• Communicating with stakeholders - this includes making sure all parents and carers, staff and volunteers, and children are aware of the additional risks associated with events in public places.