Overview
If you wish to place furniture (including tables and chairs) for the purposes of serving and or consuming food and drink on the highway (public road) in Hammersmith & Fulham outside your business premises, you must apply for a pavement licence from the council.
Pavement licences are valid for 12 months.
How much does it cost?
The fee for a pavement licence is £300 for a new licence and £200 for a licence renewal.
See Highways licensing fees and charges
Licence fees are paid for at the time of application by debit or credit card.
Apply
If you wish to make use of outside space for your business, please register an expression of interest.
If you wish to renew an existing licence for outdoor dining, please email the highway licensing team using the email address below, stating the business name, address and licence reference and the team will guide you on how to apply for this renewal.
If it is determined that you will require a pavement licence we will send you a link to the application form for completion.
The application for the pavement licence will require information including your business details, the purpose of the proposed furniture, the proposed times for the use of the furniture and the proposed area of the highway to be occupied
We will also require the following documents:
- a plan showing the location of the premises shown by a red line, so the application site can be clearly identified, and the proposed area covered by the licence in relation to the highway, if not to scale, with measurements clearly shown.
- evidence of the right to occupy the premises (eg the lease);
- evidence that the applicant has met the requirement to give notice of the application (for example photographs of the site notice outside the premises and of the notice itself);
- a copy of a current certificate of insurance that covers the activity for third party and public liability risks, to a minimum value of £2 million.
For any enquires please call us on:
Or email at highways_licensing2@lbhf.gov.uk
Consultation
Within the application process for a pavement licence there is a requirement for public consultation.
The applicant is required to affix a notice to the premises, so it is easily visible and legible to the public on the day they submit the application to the local authority. They must ensure the notice remains in place for the public consultation period which is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after the day the application is submitted to the authority.
Applicants are encouraged to keep evidence of this notice being in place for the duration of the consultation period. Applicants are encouraged to engage with any services operated in the vicinity for vulnerable customers, for example, care home or disability organisations nearby where individuals may be at particular risk.
Please see a site notice template which contains the information that an applicant will be required to provide and can be downloaded and updated for use.
Once an application has been submitted, the council will publish it on its website so there is an opportunity for representations to be made. The council will also consult licensing, noise and nuisance and the police for their comments.
Once the consultation period is complete, the council has 14 days in which to refuse or grant the application, with additional conditions attached if necessary.
Display your tables and chairs permit
If a licence has been granted, you must display a copy of any current pavement licence in the business premises so it can be seen. If you don't, you may be issued with a fixed penalty notice (fine).
Your licence will be issued as an email with your business name, the location of where the agreed furniture should be located, licence number and validity dates.
If you have not received this before you want to place your furniture on the highway, contact a member of the highway licensing team on the numbers provided above.
You must not place anything on our highway until you have received your licence.
Conditions of use
The licensee is entirely responsible for the furniture for the duration of the time they are on the highway, including delivery and collection. The licensee must adhere to the terms and conditions set out below.
Failure to follow these terms and conditions may lead to enforcement action including Fixed Penalty Notices (fines) or prosecution.
If any of the requirements of this licence are not complied with, measures may be taken to mark, guard, light or remove the items and to clean or repair the highway. The licensee will be liable for all the costs incurred. The council operates a zero tolerance policy for all safety issues.
Inspectors regularly check the highway to ensure all activities taking place are legitimately licensed, meet all the terms and conditions and are promptly removed after their expiry date.
When your highway licence expires, you have to remove your licensed highway item or apply for a replacement licence beforehand. A reminder email is sent to licence holders advising that a licence is about to expire.
Where a licence is required to continue, it is the licensee's responsibility to renew it before its expiry date. If a licensee fails to do this, then an application must be made for a new licence with a charge of the initial application fee for the first month, to reflect that this is a new licence.
You must include a responsible manager's contact phone number for both landline and mobile numbers, plus an email address.
Expired highway licences must be removed from site and replaced with a current licence as appropriate. It is confusing for the public and council inspectors if a number of licences, current and expired, are all displayed at the same time at the same location.
Highway licences are not transferable between existing and replacement business owners. If a new business owner takes over responsibility for items on the public highway, the replacement business owner must apply for a new licence.
If the public highway is damaged either by any licensed items placed upon it or the actions of any contractors working for the licensee, the costs incurred by the council to carry out repairs are to be paid by the licensee. This would include any repair costs or officer time fees in excess of any damage deposit required as part of a licence application.
Highway licenses may be revoked if the terms and conditions of the licence are not met. A revoked licence means you must immediately remove from the highway the item specified in this licence.
Terms and conditions
Please be aware that there are set national conditions as well as local standard conditions, which will apply to all licence holders:
National conditions
- No-obstruction condition. It is a condition that clear routes of access along the highway must be maintained, taking into account the needs of disabled people, and the recommended minimum footway widths and distances required for access by mobility impaired and visually impaired people as set out in Section 3.1 of Inclusive Mobility (GOV.UK).
A minimum of 2m is to be maintained for pedestrian access at all times in Town Centres and 1.5m for all other streets. These minimum levels may be increased for a particularly sensitive section of footway and or if required for access to other street furniture.
- Smoke-free seating condition. Where furniture placed on the relevant highway consists of seating for use by persons for the purpose of consuming food or drink, the licence-holder must make reasonable provision for seating where smoking is not permitted.
Local conditions
- The furniture shall not be left on the public highway unlicensed.
- Public liability insurance must be in place for the duration of the highway licence period to a minimum value of £2 million. This follows the declaration made to such effect in the application process.
- The agreed licensed items must be situated outside the agreed address and in the location on the highway specified on the licence.
- Furniture must not block access to utility apparatus.
- A laminated or framed copy of any current pavement licence must be displayed on the business premises.
- You must remove the licensed items from the highway or reposition them if required by the police or council representative, especially on event days for example football matches.
- You must remove the licensed items from the highway or reposition them if required by any works promoter, such as a utility company or the council contractor, wishing to undertake street works on the highway.
- Furniture must only be in situ on the public highway during the hours of 8am-10pm Monday-Saturday, and 9am-9pm Sunday, unless otherwise specified on the licence.
- When the licence expires or is revoked, you must remove the previously licensed items from the highway and leave the site in a clean and tidy condition.
- All detritus (food and drink remnants, spillages, bottles, cans, wrappers etc) be regularly removed from the footway surface to reduce hazards to pedestrians. The licence holder must ensure the licensed area and surrounding highway is to be washed down at the completion of each day's usage using a method sufficient to remove food debris, grease and other spillages that may occur.
- The cost of repairing any damage including cleaning or removing any stains on the highway caused by the licence activities will be recovered from the licensee.
- No gas heaters or fire pits shall be used within the licensed area. No electrical cables shall be run along the ground in such a way that they create a trip hazard or are susceptible to mechanical damage.
- Licensed items should be of an approved type and should be kept in a good state of repair.
- The licence granted will be exercised in such a manner as not to cause a nuisance, disturbance or danger to the occupiers of adjoining properties or the users of the highway.
- The licensee must comply with any reasonable direction or instruction given by the council.
- The signatory of the application is the person accepting responsibility for the compliance of all conditions and regulations associated with placing building materials on the highway.
- The council reserves the right to revoke this licence at any time if any of the above conditions are not fulfilled and maintained.
- The licensee is required to adhere to any existing conditions of their premises licence.
The Metropolitan Police have requested that those who are granted pavement licences under these provisions undertake the following to assist with counter terrorism measures. Please note that these may be added as conditions to specific licences if deemed necessary.
(1) The pavement licence holder must ensure that the management team of the business to which the pavement licence is attached; register and successfully complete the nationally recognised counter terrorism training product referred to as ACT eLearning package within 10 days of the notification of the grant of the pavement licence OR can demonstrate that the ACT eLearning product has been successfully completed within the preceding 12 months and that all staff employed by or at the premises complete the ACT eLearning within a reasonable period not exceeding 3 months from the notification of the grant of the pavement licence. (ACT eLearning Certificates are provided on successful on-line completion)
Guidance: To obtain further ACT eLearning information visit the NaCTSO Protect UK learning webpages or to register as a business or individual for ACT eLearning visit the Highfield e-learning website.
(2) The pavement licence holder must ensure that existing CCTV systems are correctly working, are compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998, Information Commissioners requirements, and any other local CCTV Code of Conduct produced by the Police or Local Authority. Imagery must be retained for at least 28 days and images produced to a Police Officer or Local Authority Enforcement Officer upon reasonable request. Faults which render the CCTV system or parts of it inoperable should normally be rectified within 24 hours.
Site notice template for display by an applicant for a pavement licence
Please copy and paste this text into a Word doc and complete with your details and display the notice.
Section 2 of the Business and Planning Act 2020
I/We (name of applicant),
do hereby give notice that on (date of application) [I/we] have applied to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for a 'Pavement Licence' at: (postal address of premises)
known as (name premises known by)
The application is for: (brief description of application, for example, outdoor seating to the front of the premises for serving of food and drink)
Any person wishing to make representations to this application may do by email, to: highways_licensing2@lbhf.gov.uk by: (last date for representations being the date 14 days after the date the application is submitted to the local authority (excluding public holidays))
The application and information submitted with it can be viewed on the council's website at: https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/pages/public-access-disclaimer
Signed ......................................................................
Dated (date the notice was placed which must be the same date as the date of application)