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This article was first published on LexisPSL Commercial on 7 March 2014. Click here for a free 24h trial of LexisPSL.

What to consider when organising sporting events on UK streets

07/03/2014 Sports law analysis: As the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) opens up consultations to consider allowing motor sports to take place on public roads, sports lawyer Felicity Reeve, partner at Bird & Bird, considers the legal implications of organising sporting events to take place on our streets.

Original news
Ministers to pave way for London Formula 1, LNB News 27/02/2014 47 The Times, 27 February 2014: London may be getting a step closer to hosting the Formula 1 race on its streets when Ministers review and overhaul road safety and speed limits. Under current laws, an Act of Parliament is required to suspend speed limits and safety laws for each race or rally.

What are the key legal hurdles to the creation of any large city-based sports event?
There are a vast number of legal issues that need to be addressed when staging city-based sporting events. The key ones are probably public safety, policing and transportation before you then get into a whole raft of other issues such as ticketing, media and marketing rights, vending and alcohol and music licensing--of course there are many logistical as well as legal issues. If you're looking to put on an event that requires the closure of public roads, for example a marathon or a stage of the Tour De France, you have the additional hurdle of obtaining consent for any necessary road closures from the relevant local authority under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (RTRA 1984). For an application for consent to close a road you will need to provide a lot of information about the proposed event including a risk assessment, details of proposed diversions, your proposals for signage and traffic management and plans for access for emergency vehicles etc. Consultation will be required with local public transportation providers and emergency services. Although the application for consent is a legal requirement, there is a lot of practical planning required to support that application.

What role could the local authority for the proposed route play in the process?
If you want to close a road to hold a sporting event you need local authority consent and depending on your route that could mean more than one local authority. For example the three stages of the Tour De France that are being held in England this summer will pass through areas controlled by a number of different authorities. Local authorities may have different requirements as to the information they need to support an application for a road closure and the time frame for providing this. The larger the event, the more notice is usually required.

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Local authorities can only close roads for certain events and for sporting events can usually only do so once a year.

What would have to change for motor races?

One of the reasons we don't currently have motor car races or speed trials on public roads is because local authorities don't have the power to close roads to allow motor racing or speed trials due to the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA 1988). RTA 1988 prohibits motor racing or speed trials on public roads in England, Scotland and Wales. At the moment it would be a criminal offence to promote a motor race on a public road or to take part in such a race. There would need to be an Act of Parliament to change this position. There have been private Acts of Parliament to allow particular motor races on an ad-hoc basis. In Scotland the Jim Clark Rally, which has taken place annually since 1997, is authorised by a private Act of Parliament. DCMS is now consulting for views as to whether the law should be changed and the restrictions in RTA 1988 should be removed. If this were to happen this would mean that a local authority would then be entitled to grant consent for motor racing to take place in its location.

Who could conceivably bring a challenge and on what grounds?

When you apply to an authority for consent for a road closure order the authority will consult with the local community, so the views of residents and businesses and various stakeholders such as the local transportation companies and the emergency services will be sought. Any of these can raise objections on grounds such as disruption to business or amenities or on the grounds of public safety. If objections are raised, in the first place the local authority requires the event organiser to try to resolve them amicably with the objectors. If they can't, then ultimately the relevant office holder in the local authority will make a decision on whether to grant the road closure order despite the objections. If an objector felt that the decision taken by the local authority was illegal or irrational in light of the objections they could in theory apply for the decision to be judicially reviewed which isn't an easy process. In the case of proposals to hold a Formula 1 Grand Prix around the streets of London you could also be looking at contractual challenges. The rules, regulations and many contractual arrangements that underpin Formula 1 are likely to limit how many Grand Prix can take place across the world each year and how many Grand Prix can be held in particular countries. The organisers of the Grand Prix at Silverstone may well have a contract that states there can only be one Grand Prix in England in any year. So you could also be looking at challenges by the organisers of competitive events and people involved in the sport under the terms of their contract.

Have challenges to large sporting events succeeded in the past?

When the London Marathon route is planned each year, and no doubt when the UK stages of this year's Tour de France route were planned, there would have been objections from local residents and businesses which might well have led to route changes. But I'm not aware of any major event not going ahead because of a legal challenge.

How might a decision either way affect lawyers?

At the moment DCMS has got its consultation document out asking people for views about whether they think the law should be changed to allow motor racing to be held on public roads. And they are looking to hold up to 20 events per year. So if lawyers are dealing with clients who are likely to be impacted either positively or negatively by a change in the law they might want to be speaking to them now about whether they want to make any representation to DCMS and they've got till 10 April 2014 to do that.

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If a change is implemented so that there is the ability to hold 20 new sports events each year, lawyers in the industry will be looking to see what new deals need to be done for their clients. Interviewed by Fran Benson. The views expressed by our Legal Analysis interviewees are not necessarily those of the proprietor.