If you wish to place a skip on any part of the highway (public road) in Hammersmith & Fulham, you must apply to us for skip licence.
To ensure compliance with licence conditions, we only accept applications from skip companies. Building contractors and residents cannot apply.
You may not place a skip on any part of the footpath or a pedestrianised area.
You must apply for your skip licence online. Please allow five working days for your application to be processed.
The minimum period for a skip licence is 14 days. You should always apply for a licence for the full duration of time that you will require the skip to be on the highway. If you find you need it beyond this time, you will need to renew your licence at least five 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 with it being revoked or a renewal licence application being refused. If your licence is revoked you must immediately remove your skip from the highway.
You do not need a licence to place a skip on private land. However, you must take due care if using the highway to load or unload. If a skip lorry needs to cross a footway to gain access to private land, you must construct a temporary crossing on the footway to protect it and deploy a banksman with relevant traffic management to the area.
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 skip licence fee is £130 per fortnight (14 days). There is no maximum fee applicable to this licence. If the licence expires before it is renewed, you will need to make a new application.
Licence fees are paid for at the same time as the application using a credit or debit card.
Licence fees are non-refundable unless we decide a site is unsuitable and no alternative location can be agreed on.
Parking suspensions
You must have a valid parking suspension in place before you place your skip in a parking bay. It is an offence to place your skip 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 skip, please email highways_licensing2@lbhf.gov.uk for advice on a suitable location. Please address your email to the licensing and enforcement officer.
Please go to My Account where you need to sign in (or create an account if you do not already have one) to then proceed to apply for a highways licence.
As part of the application the applicant for a licence 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 your licence
You must display a laminated copy of your current licence on the skip 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, location of where the skip is to 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 skip for the duration of the time it is on the highway, including 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 licence and are promptly removed after their expiry date.
When your skip 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 commence. 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 impact on them. The licence team may advise on the specific local area to be consulted.
All relevant planning consents must be agreed with council departments before an application for a highway licence is made.
Terms and conditions
If there are any concerns with being unable to meet any of the terms and conditions stated below you need to flag these to us prior to the licence application.
1. A laminated copy of the skip licence shall be displayed prominently at the site so that it can be seen safely by the public or an inspector.
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 skip must be no longer than five metres and no wider than two metres. We will not give consent for roll-on roll-off containers.
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 skip must be deposited outside the agreed address specified on the licence and within a suspended parking bay where applicable.
6. The skip shall be placed a minimum of 100mm from the kerb so that it does not impede any surface water drainage.
7. The skip shall be clearly marked with the skip company name and telephone number so they can be easily and safely read by an inspector or the public whilst the skip is in situ.
8. The skip shall have affixed below and right across the top edge of each end, a reflective strip complying with the Builders’ Skips (Markings) Regulations 1984, having broad red and yellow reflective or fluorescent stripes which shall, at all times, be kept clear.
9. During hours of darkness the skip must be lit. A council inspector has the right to check if skip lights are working.
10. The skip shall be kept securely covered at all times except when being filled, and always between the hours of 7pm and 7am.
11. The site and surrounding area of the skip shall be kept in a clean and tidy condition and you must dispose of any materials placed in or around the skip (even if by a third party).
12. The whole skip must be placed on boards to protect the highway surface.
13. The skip shall not be used in such a way that any of its contents fall onto the highway, or that there is an escape of dust from the contents of the skip.
14. No chutes to be set up over the public highway.
15. The skip shall be removed or repositioned at the request of the police, the council or statutory undertakers to access their apparatus or to carry out emergency works.
16. There shall be no flammable, explosive, noxious, or dangerous material, or material which is likely to putrefy or become a nuisance, put into the skip.
17. There shall be no planks placed on the footway to facilitate filling the skip. Planks used to access a skip on the carriageway must be placed away from the highway when not in use.
18. The skip shall not be placed on the highway so that it obstructs access to any inspection chamber or apparatus of a statutory undertaker or the council.
19. Skips located in streets near to football stadiums must be securely covered or empty on football match days and evenings. In certain roads very close to football stadiums, skips may have to be removed prior to football match fixtures and replaced after these matches.
20. Where special events are scheduled to occur on specified roads, skips may have to be removed to prevent interference with these events.
21. Should highway damage occur in vicinity of where the skip is placed on the highway, was loaded, or unloaded, the repair costs will be recharged to the licensee.
22. The licensee must comply with any reasonable direction or instruction given by the council.
23. Spoil, concrete staining and concrete being poured into gullies are not permitted on the carriageway.
24. 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.