Section 50 Street Works Licence

If you need to place a private pipe, cable or duct in the public highway, and you are not a utility company, you will need a Section 50 street works licence. It sounds like a formality. It is not.

Under Section 50 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, anyone who is not a statutory undertaker must obtain a licence before placing, keeping or maintaining apparatus in a street. The licence is the easy part. What comes with it is the part worth understanding before you apply.

What a Section 50 licence actually does to you

When a Section 50 licence is granted, the licensee becomes an undertaker for the relevant purposes of the 1991 Act in relation to the licensed apparatus and street works. That brings many of the same statutory duties that apply to utility undertakers, but it does not turn the licensee into a statutory utility company or give wider powers beyond the licence.

That status carries duties, and they are not trivial:

• You must reinstate the highway to the standard set by Section 71 and the associated code of practice: not “make good”, but reinstate to a specification, guaranteed for a period afterwards
• Your works must be signed, lit and guarded to the Section 65 safety standard
• The people doing the work must be qualified under Section 67: an accredited operative, supervised by an accredited supervisor
• You are exposed to Section 74 charges if the works overrun, which on a busy road run into thousands of pounds a day

An accredited contractor will normally carry out the physical work, but appointing one does not remove the licence holder’s responsibilities under the licence and the 1991 Act. The contract between you and the contractor may allocate risk between you, but it does not rewrite the street authority’s statutory position.

Who grants it, and it is not the planning department

A Section 50 licence comes from the street authority, which for most roads is the local highway authority: the county council in a two-tier area, or the unitary. It is the same body you deal with for a Section 278 or a Section 38, and frequently not the same council that granted your planning permission.

Where the apparatus goes into a motorway or trunk road, the street authority is National Highways instead, and only their roads are covered by their version of the licence.

This matters because a Section 50 is entirely separate from planning permission. You can have planning permission in hand and still need a Section 50 before a spade touches the road: two consents, two authorities, two processes.

Section 50 or Section 171? The confusion worth clearing up

These two get muddled constantly, and the distinction is simple once stated.

A Section 50 licence is about apparatus: placing or retaining a private drain, cable, duct or similar apparatus in the street, and carrying out the works needed to inspect, maintain, alter or remove it.

Section 171 of the Highways Act 1980 deals with temporary deposits and temporary excavations in a publicly maintainable highway. It may be the appropriate route for trial holes or other temporary works where no apparatus is being placed or retained.

Where an excavation is required for the apparatus authorised by a Section 50 licence, Section 50 itself can cover the incidental opening and reinstatement works. A separate Section 171 licence should not automatically be demanded for the same work, although other permissions, road-space bookings or traffic orders may still be needed.

Section 50 or Section 278? A different distinction again

A Section 278 is about works to the road itself (the carriageway, the junction, the kerb line) done for road purposes. Section 50 explicitly does not cover works for road purposes; it is about apparatus placed in the highway for your own purposes, not changes to the highway as a road.

So if your scheme reshapes the junction, that is a Section 278. If it runs a private duct along the verge, that is a Section 50. A large development can easily need both, plus a Section 38 for the new estate roads. Our guide to highways agreements and licences lays the whole set out side by side.

What it costs, and how long it takes

The licence carries a fee towards the authority’s expenses in granting it, and there is no national rate. Application requirements, bonds and lead-in periods vary considerably between authorities. Road-space booking, coordination with other undertakers and any traffic-management approval can add further time after the licence application itself.

The fee for the licence is the smallest number in the exercise. The real cost sits in the duties it brings: accredited operatives, reinstatement to specification, and the standing risk of Section 74 charges if the job overruns. Budget for the regime, not the form.

Is it granted as of right?

No. A Section 50 is a licence, not an entitlement. The street authority may grant it, grant it with conditions, or refuse it, and it will impose conditions as a matter of course, because your apparatus will sit in a highway it has to manage for decades. You have no right to place private apparatus in a public road; the licence is the authority agreeing, on its terms, to let you.

Section 50 removes the need for certain consents to the licensed street works from another relevant authority or from the owner of apparatus affected by those works. But subsection (3) is equally important: the licence does not replace any other consent, licence or permission that may be required. Planning permission, road-space booking, a traffic order or another approval may still be needed, depending on the job.

Section 50 relevant legislation

• Section 48, New Roads and Street Works Act 1991: who is treated as the undertaker
• Section 50, New Roads and Street Works Act 1991: the licence, its scope and the need for other permissions
• Section 65: safety measures
• Section 67: qualified operatives and supervisors
• Sections 70 and 71: reinstatement duties and standards
• Section 74: charges for prolonged occupation

Developer contributions & planning agreements

Section 50 Street Works Licence Page Updated: 25th August 2026