Pride In Surrey Event 2025 Freedom of Information Formal Request
Case reference FOI2026/00595
Received 18 March 2026
Published 16 April 2026
Request
Dear information management, please provide the following information regarding the Pride in Surrey Event at Stoke Park September 2025
1. Risk Assessments: Copies of all recorded risk assessments or due diligence reports conducted or reviewed by the Council concerning the "Protection of Children from Harm" and the suitability of vendor marketplace displays.
2. The "Objective Test": Any documentation, meeting minutes, or internal guidance detailing the "objective test" applied by the Council to determine the legal threshold of indecency for anatomical items displayed in public spaces at this event.
3. Safeguarding Consultation: Records of any consultation between the Event Organisers, the Licensing Department, and the Council's Designated Safeguarding Lead (or the Surrey Children's Executive) regarding the appropriateness of anatomical representations of Peekaboo (male genital) items in family areas.
4. Safety Advisory Group (SAG): Minutes from the SAG meetings for this event specifically relating to marketplace standards and public decency.
5. Event Management Plan: The sections of the Event Management Plan submitted by the organisers that detail the "Marketplace Policy" or "Vendor Standards."
Response
Please find the answers to your queries below:
Please provide the following information regarding the Pride in Surrey Event at Stoke Park September 2025:
1. Risk Assessments: Copies of all recorded risk assessments or due diligence reports conducted or reviewed by the Council concerning the "Protection of Children from Harm" and the suitability of vendor marketplace displays.
Pride in Surrey were required to provide us with a copy of their safeguarding policy in relation to their application to hire Stoke Park for the Pride in Surrey march in 2025. The safeguarding policy is publicly available and can be found on their website:
https://www.prideinsurrey.org/about
Pride in Surrey have also been required to work with Guildford Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) in relation to the Pride in Surrey event held in 2025, in order that an event management plan and risk assessment were prepared in advance to ensure that the events were carried out safely for all those in attendance.
They were also required to provide an Event Management Plan, which I have attached here together with the Lost and Found Children procedure for the event.
However, please note that neither the Licensing Team nor the Council approve or vet individual vendors at large events. The event organiser is required to have the appropriate Premises Licence for the event and to ensure that they adhere to our event hire terms and conditions, which can be found via the following website:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/26817/Hire-a-park-for-a-public-event
I have also attached our Licensing Policy, which covered the period 2021 to 2026, for your reference.
This Policy has recently been reviewed and there is a draft version available on our website for the period 2026 to 2031:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/Licensing2026
2. The "Objective Test": Any documentation, meeting minutes, or internal guidance detailing the "objective test" applied by the Council to determine the legal threshold of indecency for anatomical items displayed in public spaces at this event.
The Licensing Act 2003 applies only to licensable activities, namely:
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the sale of alcohol
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regulated entertainment
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late‑night refreshment
The Act does not give the Licensing Authority general powers to regulate or censor the sale or display of lawful goods by individual stallholders.
The “Protection of Children from Harm” objective relates to risks such as:
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exposure to pornography
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access to alcohol
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violent or dangerous activity
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criminal behaviour
It does not extend to novelty craft items that may cause personal offence but do not meet any legal threshold of harm.
A craft stall selling knitted novelty items does not fall within the scope of the Licensing Act, the licensing authority does not control which vendors attend the event at the invitation of organisers, or how goods on their stalls are displayed, and therefore no licensing powers apply.
Furthermore, the Licensing Act 2003 is designed to be a permissive regime. Applications are subject to a consultation for 28 days with the ‘Responsible Authorities’ and the Public and in cases where no representations are received to a consultation the Act deems the licence to be granted following the completed statutory consultation period. This was the case with the licence application for the 2025 Pride event -- no representations were received in response to the consultation and consequently the licence application was deemed to be granted, in accordance with the law. Therefore no ‘decision’ was taken to grant the application.
3. Safeguarding Consultation: Records of any consultation between the Event Organisers, the Licensing Department, and the Council's Designated Safeguarding Lead (or the Surrey Children's Executive) regarding the appropriateness of anatomical representations of Peekaboo (male genital) items in family areas.
As above, we are not required to approve or vet individual vendors or the items that they have on display at large events and therefore no such consultation occurred specifically in relation to the items that would be on display and/or on sale at the event and as such we do not hold any records relating to this point.
4. Safety Advisory Group (SAG): Minutes from the SAG meetings for this event specifically relating to marketplace standards and public decency.
Further information about the Safety Advisory Group and their aims and objectives can be found on our website via the following link:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/25760/What-does-the-Safety-Advisory-Group-do
As we are not required to approve or vet individual vendors or the items that they have on display at large events, marketplace standards and public decency are not discussed by the Safety Advisory Group and therefore there are no minutes relating to this.
5. Event Management Plan: The sections of the Event Management Plan submitted by the organisers that detail the "Marketplace Policy" or "Vendor Standards."
I have attached the Event Management plan for your reference.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
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