Regulated Stands

The Fire Safety and Safely of Places of Sport Act 1987 (the 1987 Act) extends the provisions for local authority safety certification to include covered stands with accommodation for more than 500 spectators in sports grounds not designated under the 1975 Act. These are known as ‘regulated stands’.

A regulated stand is any covered stand with accommodation for 500 or more spectators, whether seated or standing.

A local authority is required to determine whether any, and if so which, of the stands at sports grounds within its area are regulated stands.

Home Office Circular 97/1988 gives detailed statutory guidance on how to determine whether or not a stand provides accommodation for 500 or more spectators. For the precise details local authorities should refer to the Circular. In brief the local authority should count:

• the number of individual seats and / or marked places on bench seats;
• the number of places available on bench seating allowing 530mm per person and disregarding any shorter lengths left over;
• the number of spectators who can be accommodated on a terraced or sloped viewing area at a rate of 2.7 per square metre after disregarding gangways, stairways and landings; and
• the number of spectators who can be accommodated in the front two metres of a flat standing area at a rate of 2.7 per square metre.

This methodology should be used only for determining whether the stand in question should be a regulated stand. Its safe capacity does not depend only on the amount of accommodation available.

When calculating the permitted capacity for inclusion in the safety certificate, the local authority should follow the methodology set out in the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds. This may well result in a substantially lower capacity, which may even fall below 500.

It is an offence under the Act to admit spectators to a stand meeting these criteria, which has been determined to be a regulated stand, unless a safety certificate for the stand is in place. The provisions and processes for determining terms and conditions in the Safety Certificate and the scope of any enforcement action, mirror the provisions in the 1975 Act but are limited to the regulated stand, or stands only, rather than the sports ground as a whole.

The local authority may, and in practice should, issue a single certificate in respect of two or more such stands at the same sports ground. Different conditions may apply to the various stands.

Similar to the general safety certificate, there is no provision in the Act for a regulated stand certificate to be issued for a set period so it should run indefinitely, unless or until it is revoked, replaced or surrendered. As with the general safety certificate, the local authority should put in place procedures to conduct regular reviews to ensure the terms and conditions of the safety certificate are being met.