Apply for a licence to conduct a traffic survey on the highway

Payment system downtime, 
2 November 2026

Due to essential maintenance, our payment system will be unavailable from Friday 30 October 2026 until Tuesday 3 November 2026.

During this period, we will be unable to accept any payments. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience.

You need to obtain a license before conducting any traffic survey on the highway.

You need permission from the council under Section 50 or Section 171 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 if you need to excavate a public highway or pavement to install equiment. 

Get ready to apply

Before starting this application, you'll need to get together everything you need to apply:

• A copy of your current public liability insurance certificate with a £5 million indemnity limit.

• Co-ordinates of the main location or road where the equipment will be placed.

• Your contact details.

• A credit or debit card to pay the online application fee

Document uploads

As part of the application, you'll need to upload a copy, photograph, scan or screenshot of each of the following documents:

• A copy of your current public liability insurance certificate with a £5 million indemnity limit.

• You can use any of these file formats for your uploads: jpg, pdf, png, doc, docx

Charges

The application fee for this service is £92.01 per application. This covers validation of your information, coordination with Highways, Traffic Management and Street Works, handling public enquiries, and reporting any safety concerns.

No refund is given if you cancel after processing.

You will still be charged if your application is considered but rejected.

Next steps

Applications can take up to 5 days to process. Applications will not be processed where an applicant has failed to successfully complete the online payment at the end of the form (for example, where the browser window is closed before payment has been made).