Essex County Council
Essex Highways

Licences for skips, scaffolding and hoardings

You need a licence from Essex County Council to put:

  • a skip
  • scaffolding
  • hoardings (temporary board fence around a building site)
  • a crane
  • cherry picker

on any Essex Highways maintainable assets (e.g. road, pavement or verge). 

Please note:

  • You must be a licenced skip or scaffolding contractor, with proof of public liability insurance to £10 million to apply for a skip or scaffold licence
  • Only relevant contractors or commercial organisations may apply for a hoarding licence
  • Skip applications take at least 5 working days to process
  • Scaffolding applications take at least 15 working days to process
  • Any monies paid are non-refundable. Please ensure you check you are applying to the correct authority.
  • Skip, scaffolding and hoarding licences are non-Vatable

Licence periods

All licences are valid for 2 weeks

To apply and pay online

Apply for a skip licence

Apply for a scaffolding, hoarding, crane or cherry picker licence

Extend a scaffolding, hoarding, crane or cherry picker licence

Questions and Answers

Select a question to reveal/hide the answer:

All activities on the highway are controlled using licences. To place skips, scaffolding, hoardings, cranes or cherry pickers on a highway in Essex, you need to apply to Essex County Council. You may do so by selecting the links above depending upon which licence you require.

Only skip contractors may apply for a skip licence and only scaffolding contractors may apply for a scaffolding licence. Only relevant contractors or commercial organisations may apply for a hoarding, crane or cherry picker licence. Essex County Council does not accept applications from private individuals.

Essex County Council does not process licences for Southend and Thurrock. You will need to liaise with your Local Authority directly. Essex County Council will process applications only from contractors and commercial organisations and with a public liability insurance of £10m and who are able to include a copy of a certificate confirming this at the time of their application. The maximum skip size permitted on the highway is a 6 yard skip

The licence will be valid for 2 weeks from date of issue. If a skip needs to remain on the highway for a longer period of time, a further renewal application is required. A period of three working days from receipt is required to process the renewal.

The licence will be valid for 2 weeks from date of issue. A maximum period that can initially be applied for is 26 weeks. If the scaffolding needs to remain on the highway for a longer period of time, a further renewal application is required. A period of three working days from receipt is required to process the renewal.

Skip licence: 5 working days from receipt.

Scaffolding licence: 15 working days from receipt.

  • Application £
  • Renewal £
  • Application £
  • Renewal £

As indicated above, all applications should now be made online by selecting the links provided.