Truro City Council has cancelled its Bonfire Night and fireworks display for the second consecutive year after concluding the event was too expensive to stage safely within its available budget, according to the Statement on 2026 Bonfire Night and Fireworks Display.
Up to 5,000 people were expected to attend the November event in the Cornish city. The council spent the summer developing arrangements for crowd management and traffic restrictions, alongside emergency access and controlled admission at the proposed venue.
Town clerk David Rodda said the decision was made reluctantly and acknowledged the disappointment for local residents. Truro intends to keep examining alternatives with the aim of restoring a safe and affordable Bonfire Night in a future year.
Tremorvah Playing Field had been identified as the proposed venue. Planning work included road closures and ticketed entry, with additional measures covering large numbers of people entering and leaving the site.
The council also assessed support required during an emergency. After reviewing the operating plan, its working group concluded that existing budgets and resources weren’t sufficient without increasing entry prices beyond a level considered affordable for local residents.
The expected attendance placed the proposed event within the enhanced tier of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly known as Martyn’s Law. The legislation received Royal Assent in April 2025 and is expected to take effect in spring 2027.
Under the legislation, qualifying events expecting at least 800 people at the same time fall within the enhanced tier. Organisers will need appropriate public protection procedures and measures, with the arrangements documented for regulatory purposes.
Government guidance lists measures such as CCTV or bag-search policies where appropriate for larger events. Vehicle checks also form part of the possible response where an organiser’s risk assessment supports their use.
Martyn’s Law isn’t yet enforceable, although the Security Industry Authority has encouraged organisations within its future scope to prepare before commencement. Truro City Council used the expected enhanced-tier requirements when considering whether its fireworks display remained workable.
For a council-run fireworks event, those requirements sit alongside an existing set of insurance and risk-management costs.
Public liability cover, contractor insurance and event-specific conditions already form part of planning for many UK fireworks displays, even before Martyn’s Law formally takes effect.
The Truro council hasn’t identified insurance premiums as the sole reason for cancelling its event. The wider insurance position still matters because insurers and local authorities require evidence that organisers have assessed crowd exposure and fire risk, with suitable controls in place before cover is accepted.
Fireworks events often require additional insurance arrangements beyond ordinary council or community cover. Fife Council, for example, requires Special Events insurance where an event attracts more than 500 people or involves fireworks or bonfires.
Its standard public liability arrangements don’t automatically treat these events in the same way as smaller community gatherings.
Derbyshire County Council follows a similar approach. Its public liability insurance doesn’t automatically cover bonfire or fireworks displays, and organisers seeking additional cover must provide information about the location, expected attendance and risk assessment. External organisers must hold at least £5 mn of their own public liability insurance.
Runnymede Borough Council also requires organisers, contractors and other event participants to carry public liability insurance with a minimum £5 mn indemnity limit for events covered by its planning guidance. The council asks for formal evidence of cover before an event proceeds.
Those examples don’t mean Truro faced identical insurance requirements. They show how fireworks events already carry insurance conditions linked closely to the same planning work that Truro found increasingly expensive.
Martyn’s Law adds another layer to that risk assessment.
- Gallagher said in June that insurers are expected to look for evidence of security controls and preparedness as organisations move towards the new regime. The broker said insurance supports the financial side of risk transfer, while underwriters are likely to examine whether security measures operate effectively in practice.
- Marsh has made a similar assessment. The broker expects insurers to reassess venue risk profiles as Martyn’s Law changes security requirements, with coverage terms and pricing influenced by the measures adopted by organisers.
For councils, that creates a connection between compliance spending and insurance placement. More security staff or stronger access controls raise the direct cost of staging an event, while weak controls risk making the exposure less attractive to insurers or producing tighter policy terms.
Terrorism insurance introduces a separate issue. Standard event and liability policies don’t all respond to terrorism in the same way, so organisers need to examine wording rather than assume ordinary public liability protection covers every security-related loss.
Pool Re, the UK terrorism reinsurance scheme, has been working with insurers and businesses on the insurance consequences of Martyn’s Law.
Its guidance encourages organisations within the legislation’s scope to review their security arrangements ahead of commencement and assess the measures expected for larger premises and events.
Event cancellation cover addresses another part of the financial exposure, though its response depends on the cause of cancellation and individual policy wording. Weather-related cancellation, for example, is available through specialist insurance products, while a decision made in advance because an event budget no longer supports required safety arrangements is a different type of exposure.
Dartford Borough Council advises event organisers to consider specialist cancellation insurance for adverse weather while maintaining separate public liability protection. It also requires at least £5 mn of public liability cover for events requiring a road closure notice.
This year’s Bonfire Night wasn’t cancelled after an insured incident such as severe weather damaged the site. The council decided during planning that it couldn’t deliver the event at the required safety level within the money available.
That makes the Truro decision an example of how the economics of public events are changing before Martyn’s Law becomes mandatory. Security preparations add costs before the gates open, and insurers increasingly examine the controls behind those preparations when assessing risk.
The council also considered disruption to residents around Tremorvah Playing Field. Managing road closures and crowd movements formed part of the summer planning process before officials concluded the proposed structure wasn’t financially workable.
The cancellation follows the loss of Truro’s organised Bonfire Night in 2025. After last year’s decision, councillors formed a working group to assess whether the display could return in 2026 under a revised operating model.
That work produced a proposed site and a more detailed safety plan, yet the financial problem remained. Rodda said the council will continue examining ways to overcome those barriers rather than abandon the event permanently.
Future plans will need to account for Martyn’s Law once the legislation takes effect, together with the established costs attached to fireworks and event insurance. For a display attracting around 5,000 people, the security framework will remain materially different from the requirements facing a small local gathering.
Martyn’s Law is named after Martyn Hett, one of 22 people killed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. His mother, Figen Murray, campaigned for legislation requiring publicly accessible venues and qualifying events to prepare more formally for terrorist attacks.
For Truro, the immediate issue is financial rather than an identified security incident or insurance claim. The council hasn’t announced a replacement fireworks display for 2026, and its next attempt will need to balance ticket affordability against the growing cost of running and insuring a large public event.
