Why a stack needs proper access
Chimney work happens where a fall is possible: at the ridge or the gable, with heavy bricks, mortar and tools to hand. Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 puts the duty on employers to take suitable and sufficient measures against falls that could cause injury. For a stack, we plan a scaffold, a tower or a platform set up for the job.
What the access looks like depends on the house. A low bungalow stack on the rear slope may be reached with a tower. A tall stack on a terraced front needs scaffold lifts rising to the eaves and above, often with a working platform at the stack itself. The firm picks what suits the building and the height, and the survey shows which.
A ladder alone, or someone leaning out of a loft hatch, is not a plan for rebuilding a stack. The same goes for repairs that look small from below: re-forming flaunching or resetting a pot still means working at the highest point of the roof.
Read more about the bigger job in rebuilding a chimney stack.
When Kent County Council has to licence it
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence before any scaffold that obstructs a highway is put up or left standing. The highway includes the pavement as well as the road, so a front-slope scaffold on a street with no front garden normally falls inside it.
Kent County Council issues the licence. Kent County Council states that the company placing the item on the highway should apply, so the scaffold firm submits the application to Kent County Council, not the householder. No district council in our area, from Thanet to Ashford, issues a scaffold licence.
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Fee | £52 per week, 2026 to 2027 |
| Notice | 5 working days before the start |
| Cover | Public liability of £5 million |
| Questions | 03000 41 81 81 |
A site inspection, where the council thinks one is needed, is £78. If all the poles stand on your own drive or garden, the highway licence does not come into it, though the scaffold still has to be safe and stable.
How a licence shapes the job
Because the fee is charged weekly, the length of the stay matters more than any single charge. A stack repoint may need only a short stay. A rebuild, new lead flashings and a re-covered slope on the same elevation may hold the scaffold for longer, and a wet spell that stops the bricklaying holds it longer still.
Planning the job around the weather and the order of trades keeps that time down. It is one reason the roofer and the scaffold firm talk before the poles go up, and why the date for the licence and the date for the work should be agreed together.
Kent County Council's conditions also shape a scaffold on a narrow footway: they call for a minimum distance of 1.2 metre between the scaffold and the carriageway. That can mean a gantry over the pavement or a different footing. Our guide to the Kent scaffold licence goes through the conditions in full.
Height, elevations, weeks on site and the street all change the cost of access, and a survey sets it. When you read a quote, check that VAT and the scaffold are stated as included.
Questions to ask before the poles go up
A few short questions settle most of it, and the answers should come without fuss:
- Will any part of the scaffold stand over the footway or in the road?
- Which date has the scaffold firm given Kent County Council for the start?
- Who renews the licence if the job runs over?
- How will the scaffold be protected from the neighbours' side, and will they be told first?
On a terrace, the neighbours' stack and roof may sit within reach of the same scaffold. Letting them know before it goes up avoids surprises, and the terraced house chimney repairs guide covers the shared-wall side.
If a full scaffold is a poor fit for a short job, access towers and other platforms can be used, but only where they give a stable, safe working position at the stack itself and the roofer can reach every part of it.
The wider picture is under chimney repairs, and you get one written total after the survey. If any of these answers are vague, ask again before agreeing a start date.
