Booking a meeting room or venue

The council manages over 250 (two hundred and fifty) meeting spaces in 25 premises across Essex.

The vast majority of meetings and events can and should be accommodated in venues that do not generate additional costs to the organiser’s budget or to the council as a whole.

A small proportion of meetings and events require a non-council venue to be booked and paid for.

You may need to book an external venue because:

• the meeting or event is being held elsewhere in the UK or outside of the UK
• holding the meeting at council run premises would negatively impact on the outcome of the meeting, such as when ‘neutral’ or anonymous territory would be beneficial
• video conferencing or voice calling would not be appropriate, such as when face to face contact is at the heart of the event or if using technology would prevent some attendees from participating
• council run venues do not have the right facilities available or they are already fully booked

Finding and booking a venue

If the venues on our room booking service​ and other council run spaces for hire do not meet your needs, Business Support can identify and book an external venue.​

To book an external venue, you can ask for get help with booking an external venue of the Assyst portal.