The short answer
Scaffolding that stands on a pavement or road, or overhangs it, normally needs a licence from the highway authority, which for Bath is B&NES Council. Scaffolding that sits wholly inside your own boundary does not. The scaffolder usually applies on your behalf, and the process adds some cost and waiting time, so it is worth settling it before a start date is promised.
When the highway authority gets involved
The test is where the scaffold stands, not what the job is. A scaffold inside your front garden or on your own driveway needs no highway permission. One that sits on the public pavement, in the road or in a parking bay needs a licence, and so does one that overhangs it, because the law covers scaffolding erected on or over a highway. A hoarding on the pavement needs its own licence, and a skip in the road needs a separate skip permit.
Bath makes this a frequent question. Many city houses are terraced and open straight onto the pavement, with no front garden to stand a tower in. Steep streets, narrow lanes and one-way systems add further limits, and the council also cares about pedestrian routes, wheelchair users and buggies, bus stops and the safety of the road itself.
The licence is a public safety matter, separate from planning and building control. A scaffold can be perfectly lawful in planning terms and still be unlawful if put up on the highway without permission, which is an offence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980. It is worth checking this with the council's highways team, whose contact details are on the B&NES website.
Who applies, and what the application involves
In practice the scaffolding firm normally makes the application, because it knows the layout it will erect and carries the paperwork. Some roofing firms use their own scaffolders, and some hire one in. Either way, the point to settle with whoever quotes is simple: who applies, who pays the fee, and whether the price already includes it.
The application will normally need a plan showing the size of the scaffold, where it stands, how much pavement is left clear for people walking, and how it will be lit and signed. Expect questions about protecting the public from falling tools and debris, and about how the structure will be guarded at night.
We are not able to promise a response time from the council, and nobody else should. The licence has to be in place before the scaffold goes up, so a start date given before you know the answer is a guess. A good roofer builds this waiting period into the programme and tells you directly if the job might move.
A scaffold on a street closed to traffic, or one needing a parking bay suspended, may need extra permissions on top of the licence. Ask the scaffolder to confirm what is required for your address.
How a licence affects cost and timing
Scaffold is one of the bigger items on any pitched roof job. A national cost guide from MyBuilder (2026) puts scaffolding at roughly £1,125 on a typical roof replacement, though the real figure moves with the height of the building, the number of elevations and how many weeks it stays standing. That is a national typical range and not our price; a fixed quote follows the survey.
A highway licence adds to that figure in a few ways. There is the licence fee itself, the cost of lighting, boards and signs, and the time the scaffold has to stay up while the roof work waits for weather. On a street where the scaffold must be kept narrow or built in sections, labour goes up as well.
Where the licence is slow to arrive, the scaffold date slips and the roof date slips with it. That is why we ask about scaffold at the survey. For a small repair high on a gable that can be reached from the owner's land, a tower or a cherry picker may avoid the issue, though only if the access is safe. A roofer should never offer a cheaper, less safe route just to avoid the licence.
What we do about scaffold on a Bath job
At the free survey we check how the roof is reached, whether the scaffold stands on private land or the highway, and whether the neighbours' land is involved. We photograph the access as part of the roof record. Where highway permission is needed, we raise it at that stage and build it into the fixed price in writing, so there are no surprises afterwards.
Where the scaffold is shared with a neighbour's wall, a separate duty may arise, which we cover in party wall notice for roof work. And since scaffold cost sits alongside other taxes and charges, see VAT on roof repairs for how VAT applies to the overall bill.
When the work is finished, the scaffold comes down, we clear the site and carry the waste off. If the roof job has overrun, we tell you if it affects the length of time the licence covers, because an extension may need to be requested before the original period ends.
Questions to ask before you accept a quote
These keep a scaffold dispute from turning into a surprise invoice.
- Is the scaffold on my land or the highway? The answer decides whether a licence is needed at all.
- Who is applying, and who pays the fee? It should be written into the quote.
- What happens if the licence is late? Ask how the start date moves and whether a charge applies for rescheduling.
- How long will the scaffold stand? A longer period raises hire cost and may need an extension.
- What protects people walking past? Look for boarded walkways, lighting and clear signs.
For a broader view of what the owner of a house should know before work begins, our homeowner roof guide pulls the main points together, and you can begin from the home page or on 01225 285181.
