Scaffolding, hoardings and the highway licence
Planning permission does not let you stand a scaffold on the footway. Highway licences under the Highways Act 1980 run on a separate track, with their own applicants, timescales and lead times.
A scaffolding licence is granted by the highway authority under the Highways Act 1980, not by the planning department, and getting planning permission for the building work tells you nothing about whether you may stand a scaffold on the footway. The two consents run on separate tracks, with different applicants, different timescales and different enforcement. Site teams discover this in week one of the programme, usually on the morning the scaffolder arrives.
Put the licences on the pre-start checklist alongside the conditions.
Why a highway licence sits outside planning
Planning control deals with development as defined by section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Scaffolding, hoardings, skips and site cabins placed on your own land for the duration of building works are generally covered by Part 4 Class A of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015, which permits temporary buildings, structures, plant and machinery needed in connection with operations for as long as those operations last. Our note on temporary site buildings and plant under Part 4 sets out the limits.
Step off your land and onto the adopted highway and a different regime applies. The highway authority controls the surface, the airspace above it and the subsoil beneath it, and it licenses obstructions one by one. A planning permission does not authorise any of them, and a condition requiring a construction management plan does not substitute for a licence.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local highway authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Scaffolding on the footway
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 makes it an offence to erect a scaffold on or over a highway without a licence from the highway authority. The licence is issued to the person erecting the scaffold, which in practice means the scaffolding contractor rather than the main contractor or the client, and it is normally time limited.
Authorities ask for broadly the same package. A plan showing the footway, the carriageway and the proposed footprint. A design or a handover certificate for the scaffold. Public liability insurance to the level the authority sets. Details of lighting, signing and guarding. And a fee, usually banded by duration or frontage length.
Allow real time for this. Many authorities quote a working period of several weeks for a first application, longer where the scaffold narrows the footway enough to need a temporary traffic order.
Hoardings and the statutory duty to erect one
Section 172 goes further than permitting a hoarding. Where a building is to be erected, altered, repaired or demolished within a prescribed distance of a street, the authority may require a close-boarded hoarding or fence to be put up to separate the works from the street before work starts. Section 173 then requires that hoarding to be properly supported, lit at night where the authority directs, and taken down when the work finishes.
Three things follow for the programme. The hoarding licence is often the first consent needed, before scaffold or skips. The authority can specify the line, which may be tighter than the one the contractor assumed. And any graphics on the hoarding may need advertisement consent under the Control of Advertisement Regulations, separately again, particularly in a conservation area.
Keeping the footway usable
Whatever is licensed, the authority is balancing your works against its duties to highway users, including disabled pedestrians. Expect conditions on the clear width maintained past the works, the surface and gradient of any temporary route, tactile paving at crossing points, lighting levels, and the position of debris netting and fans.
| Obstruction | Usual control | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Scaffold on or over the footway | Licence from highway authority | Highways Act 1980 s169 |
| Hoarding or close-boarded fence to a street | Licence, and possibly a requirement to erect | Highways Act 1980 s172 and s173 |
| Building materials or excavation in the street | Licence | Highways Act 1980 s171 |
| Builder's skip on the highway | Permission from highway authority | Highways Act 1980 s139 |
Where the footway cannot be kept open at the width the authority wants, the fallback is a signed pedestrian diversion into the carriageway behind barriers, which needs a temporary traffic management arrangement and sometimes a traffic regulation order. That is a longer lead time than the scaffold licence itself.
Cranes, oversailing and third party airspace
Airspace above neighbouring land belongs with that land, so swinging a jib across it without agreement is a trespass. There is no licence counter for that. You negotiate an oversailing agreement with the adjoining owner, typically covering the hours of operation, the maximum load carried over the boundary, insurance, and a payment.
Where the oversail is over the public highway rather than private land, speak to the highway authority early, because a crane base, outriggers or a tower standing in the carriageway needs its own permission and a road closure in most cases. Tower crane positions chosen for structural convenience and then checked for oversail are a recurring source of six-week delays.
What a planning condition controls instead
Planning conditions do not grant highway licences. What they do control is the behaviour of the site, usually through a Construction Management Plan or, where the highway authority has asked for it, a Construction Traffic Management Plan dealing with routeing, wheel washing, delivery hours, parking for operatives and the location of any compound.
A sensible submission cross-references the licences rather than ignoring them. State that the scaffold and hoarding will be licensed under the Highways Act 1980, name the authority, and show the licensed footprint on the site setup drawing. Officers read that as a contractor who has done this before.
Where the access itself has to change, for instance a temporary crossing for site traffic, that is a separate highway matter again, and the principles in our piece on dropped kerbs and vehicle access apply.
Sequencing against the construction programme
Work backwards from the first lift.
- Fix the site setup drawing, including hoarding line, scaffold footprint, crane position and oversail arcs.
- Apply for the hoarding licence, since it usually defines the working area everything else sits inside.
- Apply for the scaffold licence through the scaffolding contractor, with insurance and design attached.
- Open negotiations on any oversailing agreement, which has no statutory timetable and can run for months.
- Submit the construction management plan to discharge the planning condition, referencing the licences.
- Confirm skip permits, temporary traffic management and any traffic regulation order.
An illustrative case shows the cost of the wrong order. A five-storey infill on a narrow high street had its construction management plan approved in good time, then lost nine weeks because the footway was too narrow for a licensed scaffold with a pedestrian route beneath it, and the carriageway diversion needed a traffic order the authority only processes monthly. The drawing had been right. The sequence had not.
Browse the report types PlanScope drafts if you need a construction management plan drafted and reviewed before the condition falls due.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need planning permission for scaffolding?
On your own land, scaffolding for building works is generally permitted under Part 4 Class A of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 for the duration of the operations. On or over the adopted highway you need a licence from the highway authority under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, which is a separate consent from any planning permission.
Who applies for a scaffold licence?
The licence is issued to the person erecting the scaffold, so in practice the scaffolding contractor applies rather than the client or the main contractor. The contractor supplies the design or handover certificate and the public liability insurance. Confirm at tender stage who is responsible, because an assumption here regularly delays the first lift.
How long does a hoarding licence take?
It varies by authority and there is no single statutory period. Many councils quote several weeks for a first application, and longer where the hoarding line narrows the footway enough to require temporary traffic management or a traffic regulation order. Apply once the site setup drawing is fixed rather than waiting for the contractor to mobilise.
Can a crane swing over my neighbour's land?
Not without their agreement. Airspace above land belongs with that land, so oversailing it is a trespass and is dealt with by a private oversailing agreement covering hours, loads carried over the boundary, insurance and payment. There is no public licensing route, and negotiation has no fixed timetable, so start it early.
Does a construction management plan replace the licences?
No. A construction management plan discharges a planning condition and controls routeing, deliveries, wheel washing and working hours. Highway licences for scaffolds, hoardings, skips and materials are granted separately by the highway authority under the Highways Act 1980. A good plan references the licences rather than assuming they are covered.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.