Street works licensing

You need a licence to dig or tunnel into a street, sewer or drain.

You need permission to put some equipment connected with digging into a public road on the street. This equipment is often known as 'apparatus'. You also need a licence to do any of these to apparatus:

• inspect
• adjust
• maintain
• repair
• renew
• move
• alter
• remove

Licence rules are set out in law under under Section 50 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. For this reason, the licence is sometimes known as a Section 50 street works licence.

How to apply

You should apply online using the form below.

Apply for a street works licence (Section 50)

You must give at least 7 working days' notice. You can do emergency work without a licence but you must notify us within 2 hours of starting work.

For work affecting a public sewer, you must ask the sewer authority before giving notice to us.

Undertaking works

You must:

• always have a trained person on site
• minimise inconvenience to people using the street
• protect the structure of the street
• guard and light any part of the street which is broken up or obstructed
• use traffic signs to help traffic if necessary

You must repair the street and as soon as possible when the work is finished and tell us within 10 working days when it's repaired.

You could be fined up to £5,000 if you break the conditions of a licence.