Consents for a scaffold gantry over the public highway

Hoarding gantry consents rarely come from the planning department. A site hoarding and the scaffold behind it are usually permitted development, while the licences that actually control them are issued by the highway authority under the Highways Act 1980, and the graphics on the hoarding are governed by a separate advertisement regime again.

Three consenting regimes, three teams, three fee structures. The programme risk is that an architect assembles a planning submission and discovers the street licences four weeks before the scaffold was due up.

Whether a hoarding needs planning permission

Schedule 2 Part 4 Class A of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits buildings, structures, works, plant and machinery required temporarily in connection with building operations being carried out on that land or on adjoining land. Site hoardings, scaffolds, welfare cabins and material stores normally sit inside that right, provided the operations they serve are themselves lawful and the structures are removed when the works finish.

Two things take a hoarding outside the right. Operations that have no permission cannot support temporary works under Part 4, so a hoarding put up before consent is granted has no protection. And a hoarding that stays after practical completion stops being temporary, which is how advertising hoardings on long-term vacant sites end up needing express permission.

Means of enclosure under Part 2 is a different right with low height limits, and it is not the one to rely on for a 2.4 metre site hoarding. Read Part 4 instead.

Where the right is withdrawn by condition or an Article 4 direction, or where the site sits on land where Part 4 is restricted, express permission is required and the application is a short one, dealt with on appearance and duration.

Highway licences for scaffolds and gantries

Anything occupying or crossing the public highway needs the highway authority's permission, and the Highways Act 1980 provides a separate licence for each activity:

• section 169 for the erection of scaffolding on or over the highway
• section 171 for depositing building materials, plant or skips in the street, and for making an excavation in it
• section 172 for the hoarding itself, which the Act requires to be erected before building work begins in a street, with the council's licence
• section 177 where a structure such as a gantry is constructed over the highway

Licences are time limited, charged by area and duration, and conditioned. Expect requirements on lighting, guarding, pedestrian protection, the standard of the hoarding, insurance cover and a deposit or bond against damage to the footway.

Lead times vary by authority and are not governed by the planning timetable. Apply when the construction programme is fixed, not when the planning permission is granted.

A gantry raises one extra question that catches people. A structure over the highway interferes with the public right of passage, so the authority has to be satisfied the headroom, loading and sightlines are acceptable, and the licence is usually conditioned on a temporary works design by a qualified engineer. That design is a separate commission and is not part of any planning submission.

Keeping the footway usable

The single issue most likely to produce objections and licence refusals is pedestrian routing. A hoarding that reduces a footway to a width a wheelchair or double buggy cannot pass is a problem the authority will not license, and the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010 applies to the decision.

What the licence application should show is a dimensioned plan of the remaining footway width, the position of any temporary ramps and tactile surfaces, and the diversion route where the footway has to close completely. Footway or lane closures need a temporary traffic order or notice, and that process runs on its own timetable with its own advertising requirements.

Where a diversion crosses to the other side of the street, the crossing points and their dropped kerbs have to be identified. Signage has to be legible at the point where somebody has to decide to cross, not at the obstruction.

Advertisement consent for hoarding graphics

Hoarding graphics are advertisements, controlled under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007 rather than by the planning permission for the development.

Schedule 3 of those Regulations gives deemed consent for a number of advertisement classes, including advertisements on hoardings enclosing land where building works are taking place, subject to limits on size, height and illumination. Within those limits no application is needed. Beyond them, or where the advertisement is illuminated, express consent is required, and the authority considers amenity and public safety only.

Three details catch developers out. Illumination almost always needs express consent. Areas of special control, which many authorities designate over rural and historic areas, cut the deemed consent classes back sharply. And advertising unrelated to the development on site, sold to third parties, is a different proposition from site identification and will be treated as such.

Conservation areas and listed facades

Scaffold fixed to a listed building is a question of listed building consent, not planning permission. Drilling ties into historic masonry, removing sections of parapet to form a crash deck, or loading a historic pavement vault all affect the special interest of the building, and consent under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 may be needed before the scaffold goes up.

Independent scaffold design, avoiding fixings altogether, is the usual answer on a graded facade. It costs more and takes more pavement, which brings the highway licence back into play.

In a conservation area the hoarding itself becomes a design matter. Painted close-boarded hoardings, viewing panels and a restrained graphic treatment carry an authority further than printed vinyl across a Georgian street. Where a designated heritage asset is affected by the works, the heritage evidence in the application needs to cover the temporary condition as well as the finished scheme, in the same way that an environmental constraint shapes the whole pack for an industrial extension inside an air quality management area.

Lighting and the night time appearance

Hoarding and scaffold lighting serves two purposes that pull against each other: guarding the obstruction for road users, which the highway authority requires, and avoiding light spill into flats above and opposite.

Guarding lighting is generally low level and amber, specified in the licence conditions. Security floodlighting is the problem. Columns aimed across a site project light into upper-floor windows at exactly the angle that causes complaints, and the fix is downward-aimed, shielded luminaires on a timer rather than dusk-to-dawn operation.

Where the site sits in a sensitive location, a short lighting note modelled against the limits for the relevant environmental zone saves an argument later. Hoarding graphics that are illuminated get assessed on the same basis.

Duration, phasing and reinstatement

Licences are granted for a stated period and renewed, so the construction programme has to be realistic. Overrunning a scaffold licence is an offence and attracts charges at a higher rate in many authorities.

Phasing is worth designing in. A hoarding line pulled back as soon as the substructure is complete releases footway, reduces the licence area and reduces the fee. Where the works involve a crane oversail, the oversail agreement with neighbouring owners is a private matter running in parallel.

Reinstatement closes the process. The footway has to be returned to the authority's specification, the bond is released on inspection, and any permanent change to the highway, such as a new vehicle crossing or an altered kerb line, needs a separate agreement under section 278 of the Highways Act 1980 rather than a licence.

What the construction management plan has to say

Most permissions for works in a street are conditioned on a construction management plan, and the licences repeat much of the same content. One document can serve both if it is written to cover: the hoarding line and footway widths, delivery and collection times, vehicle routing and holding arrangements, wheel washing, dust and noise control measures, the lighting specification, the pedestrian diversion and the complaints contact.

Scoping that document early is the same discipline as scoping any evidence base, as it is for a nine dwelling greenfield scheme. PlanScope drafts construction management plans and construction traffic management plans among its 66 report types, and for specialist technical reports such as temporary works design, qualified professional input may be required.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports your site is likely to need.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.