PERMISSION TO PLACE A BUILDERS SKIP ON THE HIGHWAY

The fee is currently £31 per permit for up to 4 weeks only – if a permit is required for longer than 4 weeks application for a permit must be made at highways@lancashire.gov.uk or on 0845 053 0011.

You can view the conditions on the standard licence conditions page.

It will not always be feasible to hire a skip and place it on the road. The Highway Authority issues skip licence, and it seeks to maintain the safety of the public and minimise the obstruction caused by a skip. It is illegal to place a skip on the highway without permission from the Highway Authority.

A permit is only valid once formal approval has been received from Highway Services and paying for a permit does not constitute approval.

Your skip licence may be granted or refused after the following points are considered:

• Traffic volumes and speed of traffic on the street
• Visibility - does the skip cause a danger by reducing visibility?
• Available width of the highway - disruption to other road users - the site may affect pedestrian crossings, cycle lanes or bus lanes
• Access to premises
• The effect it will have on parking, and restrictions, for example yellow lines and parking meters
• Planned or existing roadworks
• Other local and specific issues, for example shopping areas at Christmas
• The skip owner (ie. the skip company) must have £5 million public liability insurance

A minimum of 3 days notice should be given when applying for a skip/scaffold licence.  Please do not assume as the process is online, that an automatic licence will be granted/issued.

No. A retrospective licence will not be accepted and skips without a licence will be dealt with as an illegal skip.

It is an offence under section 139(3) of the Highways Act 1980 and legal action may be taken against offenders.

Any illegal skip placed on the adopted highway will be removed from the highway and charged for the removal and storage.  The skip company will be recharged the full costs of removal, emptying and storage along with a licence fee for the time it was on the highway.  It will only be stored for a limited time then destroyed or retained to recover payment.

If the skip company pays all associated costs the skip will be available for collection from an appointed site/depot upon receipt of the payment.

No unfortunately this decision will not be made immediately; you will be contacted after the submission of the application to inform you of the status of your application.

A permit is only valid once formal approval has been received from Highway Services and paying for a permit does not constitute approval.

 You will need a licence if you intend to place a skip on the carriageway, the verge or the footway.

You can apply online on this website.

The issuing of a licence will require the skip operator to have a minimum public liability insurance policy of £5 million.

The skip should be positioned so that its longer sides are parallel to the edge of the carriageway and as near to the edge of the carriageway as is reasonably practicable and so that it does not impede the surface water drainage of the highway nor obstruct access to any manhole or the apparatus of any statutory undertaker or Lancashire County Council.

Where more than one skip is on the highway at any one time, the skips shall be positioned as closely as possible to each other, but not so close as to obstruct access to any premises unless the consent of the occupier of those premises has been obtained.

Each skip shall not exceed 5m in length by 2m in width.

No skip, when standing on the highway, shall contain any (inflammable) explosive, noxious or dangerous material or any material which is likely to putrefy or which otherwise is, or is likely to become, a nuisance to users of the highway.

No skip shall 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 when standing on the highway.