If you wish to place building materials, plant or machinery on any part of the highway (public road) in Hammersmith & Fulham, you must apply to us for a licence. These can only be placed on the carriageway.
Building plant and machinery includes:
- Generator
- Concrete pour operations, pumps, pipes etc
- Air compressors
To ensure compliance with licence conditions, we only accept applications from building contractors. Residents cannot apply.
You must apply for your building materials licence online. Please allow five working days for your application to be processed.
The minimum period for a building materials licence is 14 days. You should always apply for a licence for the full duration of time that you will occupy the highway. If you find you need it beyond this time, you will need to renew your licence at least 5 working days before the original licence expires. You will also need to renew any parking suspensions at least 5 working days before the date required.
Renewal of a licence is not automatic and depends on several factors including other planned works in the area, planned events in the borough and compliance with the original licence. Failure to meet the terms and conditions of your licence may result in it being revoked or a renewal licence application being refused. If your licence is revoked, you must remove your building materials or machinery immediately.
If you need any advice please email the licensing and enforcement officer at highways_licensing2@lbhf.gov.uk or call us on 020 8753 4807 or 020 8753 3447.
How much does it cost?
A building material or plant licence fee is £130 per fortnight (14 days).
You can renew your licence but if the licence expires before it is renewed, you will need to make a new application.
Licence fees are paid for at the time of application by debit or credit card. Licence fees are non-refundable unless the address is unsuitable and no alternative location can be agreed on.
You will also be required to pay for any road closures that you may need to facilitate your works.
Parking suspensions
You must have a valid parking suspension in place before you place your materials or plant in a parking bay. It is an offence to place your materials/plant on the public highway in a parking bay which is not suspended for this purpose.
Please apply online for your parking suspension before your licence application at parking suspensions. You will need your parking bay suspension reference number for your licence application.
For lift and load operations, additional parking bay suspensions may be required and may be booked as required.
If there is no parking bay outside the address where you want to position your building materials/plant, please email highways_licensing2@lbhf.gov.uk for advice on a suitable location. Please address your email to the licensing and enforcement officer.
Apply online via My Account
The link above will take you to My Account where you need to create an account and then proceed to apply for a highways licence.
As part of the application the applicant must complete the declaration confirming that public liability insurance is in place at the time of the application, that public liability insurance will be in place for the duration of the highway licence period and provide evidence of their public liability insurance to a minimum value of £5 million as part of the application process.
Display of your licence
You must display a laminated copy of your current licence on site where it stands on the highway at all times. Your licence must be visible to anyone using the public highway. If you do not display a valid licence you may be issued a fixed penalty notice (fine).
Your licence will be issued as an email with your company name, the location of where the building materials should be located, licence number and validity dates. If you have not received this before you are due to occupy the highway, contact a member of the licence team on the numbers provided above.
You must not place anything on our highway until you have received your licence.
Conditions of use
The licensee is entirely responsible for the materials and/or plant for the duration of the time it is on the highway including the delivery and collection. The licensee must adhere to the terms and conditions set out below.
Failure to follow these terms and conditions may lead to enforcement action including fixed penalty notices (fines) or prosecution. If any of the requirements of this licence are not complied with, measures may be taken to mark, guard, light or remove the items and to clean or repair the highway. The licensee will be liable for all the costs incurred. The council operates a zero-tolerance policy for all safety issues.
Fines for non-compliance will be issued to the licence holder and it will be their responsibility to correspond with the council and resolve those fines. Any arrangements the licence holder has with a third party are separate to this and must be resolved between the licence holder and said third party.
Inspectors regularly check the highway to ensure all activities taking place are legitimately licensed, meet all the terms and conditions and are promptly removed after their expiry date.
When your building material licence expires, you are required to remove your licensed highway item. A reminder email is sent to all licence holders advising that a licence is about to expire. Where a licence is required to continue, it is the licensee’s responsibility to renew it before its expiry date.
If a licensee fails to do this, then an application must be made for a new licence with a charge of the initial application fee for the first month, to reflect that this is a new licence.
When you apply for your highway licence, you must ensure that you provide your trading address or project office address where official correspondence can be sent and read by the licence holder. Your trading address or project office address may be different from your work site address, so please ensure that you provide the correct address for us to contact you. Failure to provide the correct contact address may cause your licence application to be refused or an existing licence revoked.
You must include a responsible manager’s contact phone number for both landline and mobile numbers, plus an email address.
If there is a change in the person responsible as named licence holder, then the council’s highway licence team must be advised of the replacement person’s name, contact phone numbers and email address.
Expired highway licences must be removed from site and replaced with a current licence as appropriate. It is confusing for the public and council inspectors if several licences, current and expired, are all displayed at the same time at the same location. Parking suspensions must be renewed where applicable.
Highway licences are not transferable between existing and replacement contractors. If a new contractor takes over responsibility for items on the public highway, the replacement contractor must apply for a new licence.
Any planned excavations in the highway must be approved by this council before digging works start. A separate licence is required to authorise any such excavation of the highway so please contact the licensing team for further information on how to obtain the appropriate licence. Undertaking an excavation without the appropriate licence may lead to a prosecution.
If the public highway is damaged either by any licensed items placed upon it or the actions of any contractors working for the licensee, the costs incurred by the council to carry out repairs are to be paid by the licensee. This would include any repair costs or officer time fees in excess of any damage deposit required as part of a licence application.
Further to any planning consultation agreement, it is the licensee’s responsibility to consult local residents, businesses and other stakeholders where highway licensed items may affect them. The licencing team may advise on the specific local area to be consulted.
All relevant planning consents must be agreed with the appropriate council departments before an application for a highway licence is made.
Terms and conditions
1. All building materials/plant must be confined to the carriageway only and not be placed on the footway.
2. Any activity associated with the licence must not violate the terms of the agreed planning consent. Any violation may lead to the revocation of the licence.
3. The building materials/plant shall not be left on the public highway unlicensed.
4. All traffic and pedestrian management is to be set up in accordance with the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice unless otherwise directed by a condition of the licence.
5. The materials/plant must be deposited outside the agreed address specified on the licence and within a suspended parking bay where applicable.
6. Building materials must not exceed more than one parking bay; 5 metres in length, 2 metres in width and 1.2 metres in height.
7. A laminated copy of the building material licence (or subsequent renewal) shall be displayed prominently at the site, so it can be seen safely by the public, whilst the building materials/plant are on the public highway.
8. Building materials must be stored a minimum of 100m from the kerb as the road drainage channel must be kept clear at all times. You must not use council gullies for disposing of waste materials.
9. To protect the highway surface, plastic sheeting/ply board or similar must be laid under any loose building materials.
10. Building materials deposited on the public highway must be guarded by safety barriers in accordance with the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice. No liquid cement residual should be washed down gullies.
11. A lamp shall be placed at each corner of the building materials. Each lamp shall have an illuminated power of not less than one candela, shall be clearly visible to all traffic and shall remain lit during the hours of darkness.
12. The site and surrounding area shall be kept in a clean and tidy condition at all times.
13. Concrete mixing (or similar) should only be carried out on the carriageway, NEVER on the footway, and spot boards or plastic sheeting must be used to protect the highway. This activity must always be within an enclosure of safety barriers in accordance with the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice.
14. You must not use flammable, explosive, noxious or dangerous material, or material which is likely to putrefy or become a nuisance on the highway.
15. You must not place materials, tools, equipment, cables etc. on the footway as this is an obstruction and dangerous to pedestrians.
16. Any building materials inside a hoarding structure where a skip is not provided will require licence approvals for both the building materials and the hoarding.
17. No sharp edges must protrude out of any building materials stored on the road.
18. Metal or wood materials must not be cut/welded on anywhere on the public highway.
19. You must remove the building materials/plant from the highway or reposition them if required by the police or council representative especially on event days for example football matches.
20. When the licence expires, you must remove the building materials/plant from the highway and leave the site in a clean and tidy condition.
21. The cost of repairing any damage including cleaning or removing any stains on the highway caused by the licence activities will be recovered from the licensee.
22. The licence granted will be exercised in such a manner as not to cause a nuisance, disturbance or danger to the occupiers of adjoining properties or the users of the highway.
23. The licensee must comply with any reasonable direction or instruction given by the council.
24. Permission for building materials does not extend to the parking of vehicles or loading or unloading of materials. The licensee shall ensure all parking, loading and waiting restrictions are adhered to.
25. Spoil, concrete staining and concrete into gully are not permitted on the carriageway.
26. The signatory of the application is the person accepting responsibility for the compliance of all conditions and regulations associated with placing building materials on the highway.