Royal Wedding street parties are being encouraged by Richmond Council, which will cover the costs of road closures where residents would like to organise celebrations.

The Council met the official costs for street parties during the previous royal wedding and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, when over 100 events were held.

Now, for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Council has agreed to waive the cost of closing roads on May 19 and 20 and the bank holiday weekend of May 26, 27 and 28.

Councillor Peter Buckwell, cabinet member for highways and street scene, said: “We saw a great outpouring of goodwill across our borough for Prince William’s wedding and I would love to see the same for his younger brother.

“We have already had a number of requests for street parties, but we want to encourage even more people to come together, show some community spirit and celebrate this joyful day.

“We will again do our bit for local people this year by covering the costs of closing roads, helping people mark this national occasion together.”

The road closure includes the cost of the statutory adverts required to make drivers aware; neighbours and resident groups will only have to find the cost of hiring ‘road closed’ signage.

The deadline for applications is the April 30.

Advice from Richmond Council is to prepare well in advance, including talking to neighbours, and applying in good time to have roads closed.

The Council has a Street Party information webpage with application form.

Go to: www.richmond.gov.uk/street_parties for details.