Planning Your Event

Why Events?
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council deliver and support a wide range of events across the region throughout the year.  Events provide an opportunity for the residents, community and business to come together to showcase the wonderful district of Fermanagh and Omagh and bring our parks, greens, open spaces, villages and town centres to life. Events can fall into many categories including Cultural, Arts and Heritage, Leisure and Sport, Community, Environment and more.  Each event will have its individual objectives, however, they all form part of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s Corporate Plan and the 2030 Community Plan.

• People and Communities – Events should increase attendance and participation in arts, cultural and heritage activities promoting creativity and wellbeing. Sporting events that increase participation and improve health and wellbeing outcomes may also be supported.
• Economy, Infrastructure and Skills – We support events that provide economic benefits to the local economy, promote tourism and the visitor experience. Community events should improve community cohesion, provide opportunities to participate and build capacity within the sector.
• The Environment – Events, where appropriate, should enhance the natural environment, built and cultural heritage and be sustainability managed.

Events & Festivals Strategy (2024-2027)

The Events and Festivals Strategy has currently gone through a review . This has now been completed and was required due to the passage of time – strategy was developed in 2018/19, and needed to be updated to reflect new strategic imperatives and ensure the actions are still relevant. The Events and Festivals Strategy can be viewed and downloaded (see below)

Events Toolkit

There are increasing demands on event organisers; for this reason Fermanagh and Omagh District Council have developed an Events Toolkit.  This is a practical resource to help you run a successful and well-planned event within the district. It combines an essential set of principles, standards and guidelines with clear, concise information to help organisers deliver safe, well managed and high-quality events. Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Events Management Team are responsible for delivering many events throughout the year with large audiences and high level of community participation.  The Events Management Team are working across the council and district to develop ways to improve current processes, develop skills, support peers and create new ways of working.

The downloadable Events Toolkit (see below) is a practical resource to help you through this process and sets out the key principles and procedures for organising an event.

Council Outdoor Events and Festivals Spaces

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council have a number of sites that are available and suitable to hire for an outdoor events and festivals space listed below.  Please click here to view a map of each site and additional information such as; electrical points, water points, covered areas, comments and additional attachments.

• Broadmeadow, Enniskillen
• Cottage Lawn, Belcoo
• The Round ‘O’, Enniskillen
• Forthill Park, Enniskillen
• Arleston Park, Omagh
• Grange Park, Omagh
• OASIS Plaza, Omagh
• Ecclesville Forest / Parkland, Fintona
• Gortin Glens Forest Park
• Area outside Sperrin Centre, Omagh
• Omagh Agricultural Mart (outdoor space only)
• Enniskillen Castle (outdoor space only)
• Forest Service locations will be uploaded in due course.( Please contact us directly to discuss which Forest sites you wish to hold your event at)

Additionally, there are also a number of event friendly spaces within the Geopark. Key sites are as follows:

• Cuilcagh Boardwalk
• Castle Archdale
• Pollnagollum Cave (Belmore Forest)
• Lough Navar
• Castle Caldwell

All other available sites can be found at www.marblearchcavesgeopark.com

How do you apply to hold an event on Council Outdoor property? (See Events Flowchart below)

Thereafter, you need to complete the Events Notification Form (ENF) to apply for and be granted permission to use Council Outdoor property, before your event can take place.  The decision to grant permission will involve service areas: Events Team, Operations and Estates, Licensing and Parks sections of the Council

This will outline if you, the event organiser, will be required to attend a Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meeting. A SAG meeting attendance is generally required for events that have the potential to have significant impacts on the community and / or environment, or require input and advice from a variety of authorities.

All Service areas review the Event Notification Form and may contact the Event Organiser to discuss the Event directly and seek additional information about the Event.

Events Notification Form (ENF)

Event Organisers are required to complete an Events Notification Form and submit to Events Management Team within Fermanagh and Omagh District Council if your event involves any the following:

• • External event organiser receiving financial support from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council
  • External event organiser seeking use of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council outdoor property (see ‘How do you apply to hold an event on Council Outdoor property?’ below)
  • External event organiser providing information about an event and to be uploaded to Councils Event Calendar.
  • External event organiser requiring a licence from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, for example:
    • • Entertainment
      • Road Closures
      • Street Trading

In completing this form it will enable Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and key agencies to provide the permissions for Council OUTDOOR event space / estate use and correct level of support and guidance required. You or your organisation, club or department understand and agree that the information contained within this form will be shared across all relevant departments within Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. It will also be circulated to members of the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) for the purpose of notifying key agencies (Emergency services and various departments) that an event is taking place. This form acts as the initial brief to highlight to members of the SAG the nature and size of your event which may require you to attend a SAG meeting to explain aspects of the event.  Whilst this is an initial events notification of your event, please complete each section in as much detail as possible.

If you are holding an event in an INDOOR Council facility / venue, speak with the facility / venue directly about the process of booking and confirming your booking, and check that they have any licences in place that you may need for your event. (Omagh Leisure Complex, Lakeland Forum, Strule Arts Centre, Ardhowen Theatre, Bawnacre Centre, Castle Park Centre etc)

NOTE TO EVENT ORGANISERS: Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has introduced Hire Charge for events being organised on Council estate,  please see Estate Hire Charging below.

Accessible Events

The Equality Act 2010 makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone because of their “Protected Characteristics” (i.e. their race, gender, age or disability etc.). The legislation also makes it clear that event organisers must make “reasonable adjustments” to their plans to ensure that disabled people are not discriminated against. Please see Planning an Event- ‘How to make your Event more Accessible’ in the Events Toolkit. Eventbrite has also produced a UK Event Accessibility Guide 2017 which is available to download below.