Our payment system will be unavailable on Tuesday 20 May between 9:30am and 4:30pm for an essential upgrade. During this time, you cannot make payments on our website or over the phone. Payments by bank transfer, standing order and Direct Debit are unaffected.
Council telephone systems
We are moving to a new telephone system. This may cause some initial issues and disruption to calls while it is being set up. If you have any issues, you may wish to call back at another time. We appreciate your patience whilst the new system is implemented and apologise for any disruption that you may experience.
Highway licensing - skips, scaffolds, hoardings, materials and plant
Find out what you need a highway licence for, who can apply, and how to check if something has one.
Highway licences
The Highway Enforcement Team license and check any items placed on the public highway.
Anything placed on the highway is potentially dangerous. The council has a duty to protect the highway and keep it safe for all users. Placing items without having our permission is against the law. It can lead to us removing items and prosecuting you.
If you want to put things on the public highway you need to get a licence from us first. This includes putting things on:
pavements
roads
highway verges
Professional scaffolders, skip companies, builders and suppliers of materials should already know this. We recommend householders make sure that these companies have a licence before allowing deliveries or works to start. This is also true of things they have ordered for their own use.
What you need a licence for
The most common things that need a licence are:
scaffolds
skips
hoardings and site fencing
cranes or mobile elevated work platforms
containers, welfare units and portaloos
hippo bags or other skip bags covered by a materials and plant licence
Building materials and plant also need a licence, this includes materials:
bought directly from builders’ merchants
ordered or used by contractors
The licence holder needs to bag or contain any sand, soil, gravel or other loose material. If they don't, we may bill them for clearing any drains affected.
Limits on licences
In some cases, there are limits on who can take out a licence. For example, only specialist companies can take out a scaffold, hoarding, skip or container licence. You need to have £10 million of public liability insurance.
These licences are usually dealt with by the respective companies or, for large projects, by the main contractors.
If you wish to place small amounts of building materials on the public highway, you can apply for a materials and plant licence.
Items placed in parking bays, within controlled parking zones, also need a parking bay suspension permit. You need to get the permit before we can issue a highway licence.