Who issues the permit and who applies
Skips on the road fall under section 139 of the Highways Act 1980, and the authority that grants permission across every district we work in is Kent County Council. District councils issue no skip permits.
Kent County Council's licence guidance puts the application with whoever places the item on the highway. For a skip, that is the hire firm, which submits it for you, in the same way a scaffolder does for scaffolding. Your part is to tell the firm exactly where the skip will stand, to ask for the permit reference, and to check that it is in place before the lorry arrives. A short email to the firm is enough.
- The hire firm needs public liability insurance of £5 million or more before Kent County Council lets it register to apply.
- Ring Kent County Council highways on 03000 41 81 81 with any query before an application goes in.
- On a roof job the roofer usually books the skip, so ask who is doing it and whether it will stand on the road.
Notice, fee and size limits for 2026 to 2027
These figures come from Kent County Council's skip terms and its fees page.
| Item | Kent County Council |
|---|---|
| Notice before placing | 5 working days |
| Notice for a renewal | 3 days expected |
| Fee, 2026 to 2027 | £45 per week |
| Maximum size | 5 metres by 2 metres |
On size, the council says a skip should not exceed 5 metres in length, nor 2 metres in width. The fee covers each week the skip stands, so a skip that stays three weeks during a strip and re-cover costs three weeks.
Five working days is not five days. A request on a Friday will not cover the following Wednesday, so book the skip when the job is booked, not on the morning before, and allow for bank holidays that eat into the notice.
Where a skip goes down without a permit, Kent County Council can charge an inspection fee of £120 plus a retrospective permit fee of £45. Check that the permit exists before delivery, and keep the permit number with your job papers.
Skips on a drive, a footway or a private road
The permit is for the highway: carriageway, verge and footway. A skip wholly on your drive or in your front garden is off the highway, and Kent County Council's permit does not come into it. If any part overhangs the pavement, it is on the highway.
A skip on the footway is a special case. Kent County Council expects express permission for it, and requires a 1.5 metre wide pedestrian walkway to be kept. On a narrow street in Margate, Broadstairs or Ramsgate the pavement may be too tight to leave that width, which can push the skip into the road.
Think about these before you book:
- Where the lorry will stop, and whether it has room to lift the skip down.
- Whether any parking bays or restrictions apply on that spot.
- Whether the skip will block a neighbour's drive or the view at a junction.
If the road is private, find out who owns it before the skip is placed. Where there is doubt, ask the hire firm to confirm in writing on which side of the boundary the skip will stand.
What to ask the roofer and the hire firm
On a roof job the skip, the scaffold and the waste are planned together. A few questions at the quote stage prevent most problems.
- Is a skip needed, and where will it stand?
- Who books it, and has the application reached Kent County Council?
- How long will it stay, and who pays if the job runs over?
- Is the scaffold also on the highway, with its own licence applied for?
The scaffold is separate from the skip, with its own licence, its own fee and its own application by the scaffolder, covered in the scaffold licence in Kent guide. Waste is a third point: old roofing is taken away at the end, and the roofer should tell you how.
Asbestos cement sheets never go in an ordinary open skip. If a garage or outbuilding roof might contain asbestos, read garage and asbestos roofs before anything is ordered.
The rest of the preparation is in preparing your home for roof work. A quote from Castle Roofing Margate says whether the skip sits inside the one total price.
