Permit scheme for road works and street works

The area covered by the permit scheme is the geographical boundary covered by the permit authority.

All streets for which Buckinghamshire Council is the highway authority, i.e. publicly maintained by or on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council, are included in the Buckinghamshire Council Permit Scheme; these are the 'specified streets' as set out in regulations.

Trunk roads and motorways for which Highways England is the highway authority responsible are not included in the scheme.

Privately maintained streets are also not included in the scheme but will be added if they are subsequently adopted by Buckinghamshire Council and shown as such in the street gazetteer

The street gazetteer will be produced and maintained by Buckinghamshire Council as the highway authority and permit authority.

Further information about the street gazetteer and additional street data can be found in Appendix B. The permit authority will create, maintain and publish the LSG to Level 3.

'Street’ refers to that length of a road with a single unique Street Reference Number (USRN).

Where a single street has more than one USRN, separate permits will be required for each USRN to which an activity relates.

Streets subject to the permit scheme will be identified as an Additional Street Data (ASD) record held on the National Street Gazetteer Concessionaire’s website alongside the NSG data.

Motorways and trunk roads in Buckinghamshire for which the highways agency are the highway authority are excluded from the permit scheme.

Private streets that are not maintainable highways, other than those that are expected to become a maintainable highway, are not included in the permit scheme.

Where a street is expected to become a maintainable highway, controls on specified activities under the permit scheme will only apply after the street has become a maintainable highway.

The permit will be granted for a period of calendar days. This will prevent ambiguity as to whether the permit is valid at weekends or on bank holidays.

A permit will only be valid for the period between the start and end date.

Changing circumstances for either the promoter or permit authority may require permit conditions to be modified.

Variations to permits will be confirmed by the granting of an amended permit showing the revised details. If the permit authority initiates the variation then there will be no fee charged for the granting of this revised permit, however if the variation is initiated by the activity promoter then a permit variation fee will be applicable.

Applications for permit variations must contain the following information as applicable:

• the revised timescale
• any change to the description of the activity
• any change to the location within the same street
• a revised illustration
• any change to the method of excavation
• any variation to the depth of the excavation from less than 1.5m to more than 1.5m
• any changes to the conditions
• any changes to Traffic Management
• the need for a TTRO when not thought to be required initially

If a full permit has not yet been granted and the promoter needs to make a change, the promoter must inform the permit authority. For major works, the promoter may also need to make a new Provisional Advance Authorisation (PAA) application as PAAs cannot be varied.

It is important that permit variations are sought whenever changes are needed as working without a permit or outside the permit conditions is a criminal offence. For further information on permit variations refer to section 11.

If a permit is required, but has not been sought or granted, or the permit has been cancelled, activities cannot be carried out without committing a criminal offence.