Licences to occupy the highway during construction

Highway licence construction costs sit outside the planning fee, outside the building control charge and usually outside the first cost plan. They are charged by the highway authority, they are priced by area and duration, and on a tight urban site they can run for the whole build programme. A scaffold on a footway for eleven months, a hoarding on two frontages and a skip bay is a four figure monthly commitment on many authorities, and nobody tells you that at planning stage.

The licences are also consents in their own right, with refusal and conditions attached. Getting planning permission does not entitle you to stand anything on the public highway.

Which activities need a licence

The Highways Act 1980 is the main instrument, and the pattern is simple: if the activity obstructs or occupies the highway, which includes the footway and the verge, it needs the authority's permission.

Section 172 is the one people get backwards. It is not permissive. Where building work is to be done on a building within a street, the authority may require a hoarding or fence to be erected before the work begins, and doing the work without one where it has been required is an offence. So the hoarding is often a duty and a licensed activity at the same time.

Scaffolding, hoarding and skip permits

A scaffold licence application normally needs a drawing showing the footprint on the footway, the remaining clear pedestrian width, the proposed duration, and evidence that the scaffold is designed and will be inspected properly. Authorities commonly ask for a design in accordance with the recognised scaffolding guidance, and a handover certificate from the scaffolder.

The clear width left for pedestrians is where applications get refused or reduced. Authorities work to a minimum effective footway width and will insist on a protected walkway under the scaffold, or a signed diversion with tactile paving and ramps, rather than simply allowing the footway to be blocked.

Skip permits are quicker and more heavily conditioned than people expect. The skip has to be marked and lit in accordance with the marking regulations, positioned away from junctions and crossings, and removed promptly when full. Authorities often cap the duration at a few days and charge per skip per period, which makes a muck away strategy relying on a permanent skip bay a poor plan.

Hoarding licences bring the advertising question with them. Advertising on a site hoarding may need advertisement consent under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007, separately from the highway licence, and the two are administered by different teams in the same building.

Footway closures and temporary traffic orders

A full footway or carriageway closure is a different order of magnitude. A temporary traffic regulation order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 requires advertisement, a notice period and, in many authorities, a three month lead time for a planned closure.

Short notice powers exist for emergency and urgent works, and they are not available for a contractor who failed to programme. Assume the long route.

The cost structure here changes too. Alongside the authority's administration charge, you are usually paying for the advertisement, the traffic management design, the signage and barriers, and traffic marshals where pedestrians are diverted across a carriageway. On a town centre site, closure costs frequently exceed the licence fee by a wide margin.

Charges by duration and area

There is no national schedule. Each highway authority sets and publishes its own charges, which means the only reliable figure is the one on the authority's current fees page. Check the current schedule for the authority covering your site before putting a number in the cost plan.

The structures in common use are:

• a fixed application or administration fee per licence
• a periodic occupation charge per square metre of highway occupied, usually weekly or monthly
• a banded charge by street category, with higher rates on principal roads and in town centres
• a per item charge for skips and for each renewal
• a deposit or bond against damage to the highway surface and kerbs
• a separate charge for the inspection regime

Two features of that structure matter for the programme. Occupation charges accrue whether or not work is happening, so a scaffold left up through a six week delivery delay is pure cost. And renewals are usually charged at the full rate, so a licence period that underestimates the programme costs more than one that overestimates it.

Insurance requirements

Every licence will require public liability insurance naming the authority's interest, and the indemnity limit is set by the authority rather than by convention. Limits of £5 million and £10 million are both in use. Check what the authority specifies and check that the policy actually covers highway occupation, because some contractor policies exclude it.

The authority will also normally require an indemnity in favour of itself against claims arising from the licensed activity, and will want the licence holder identified clearly. That matters when the contractor changes mid-build. A licence held by a contractor who leaves the site does not transfer automatically, and a new application may be needed.

Interaction with the construction management plan

Most permissions of any size carry a condition requiring approval of a construction management plan or a construction traffic management plan before works begin. The sensible approach is to design the highway occupation once and use it for both purposes.

A Construction Traffic Management Plan that shows the hoarding line, the scaffold footprint, the pedestrian diversion, the delivery bay and the vehicle routing is also most of the supporting material for the highway licences. A Construction Management Plan covers the wider site management, working hours, dust and noise controls and neighbour liaison.

Where the two documents disagree, the highway authority notices. Submitting a plan showing a footway closure that the highway team has already said it will not grant is a reliable way to lose a month on condition discharge.

Programming applications before start

Work backwards from the date the scaffold goes up, not forwards from the date of the planning decision.

1. Identify every highway occupation the build needs, including temporary ones such as a crane lift closure.
2. Confirm the authority's current charges and conditions, and the application lead time for each licence.
3. Submit the construction management plan for condition discharge first, so the highway licence applications are consistent with it.
4. Apply for the long lead items, chiefly any temporary traffic regulation order, at least three months ahead.
5. Apply for scaffold, hoarding and skip permits once the contractor's programme is fixed, with durations that include contingency.
6. Diarise the renewal dates, because an expired licence stops the work and the authority can require immediate removal.

The budget line to carry through the appraisal is the occupation charge over the full programme, not the application fee. It is the recurring item that surprises people. For the other statutory costs that sit alongside it, see the building control charges that run alongside the planning fee and how planning fees are indexed each April.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Highway licensing is administered locally and the charges and conditions vary. Check the position with the highway authority for your site or a qualified professional before relying on it.

See PlanScope pricing if you are budgeting the application documents alongside these costs: one free report, £50 per report, or Professional for unlimited reports. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.