Highways advice for builders

Working on the highway

The Highways Act 1980 sets out requirements relating to construction work on or near the highway.

If you are a builder or contractor working on the highway you need to:

• safeguard existing rights of way
• minimise congestion on the footway and carriageway
• minimise the use of on-street parking

Permits and licences

You need to get related permits and licences for various temporary uses of the highway. This includes:

• fenced storage areas
• using skips
• scaffolding and gantries
• suspending parking bays
• closing or diverting roads and footpaths
• operating fixed or mobile cranes
• erecting hoardings

Construction Traffic Management Plan

If your construction works are implementing a planning permission, you may need a Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) as a condition of the permission. 

The plan must be submitted and approved by the Council before any works can take place on site. 

If a CTMP is required, the Council will not issue any other permits and licences until the CTMP has been agreed and the condition formally discharged by the Department of Planning and Borough Development.

Statutory guidance

Legislation:

• The Highways Act 1980, specifically Part IX
• The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991
• The Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• The Traffic Management Act 2004 or general features of the Act 
• The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Best practice:

• Construction Traffic Management Plan guidance note

Transport Supplementary Planning Document