Applying to close a road or other temporary restriction

Anyone who wishes to close a road or introduce a temporary road restriction needs to apply to us for permission.

To close a road we need to issue a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) and this takes a minimum of 12 weeks from when we receive your application.

As well as a TTRO, we may also issue a Temporary Traffic Regulation Notice (TTRN) which imposes a short-term closure or restriction. These are required for works that are unplanned or are being carried out as an emergency or without undue delay.

Our road closure guidance document has more information on the laws and processes we have to follow to close or temporarily restrict a road.

Road closures for special events such as parades, street parties or carnivals are put in place using a piece of legislation called the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.

Anyone can apply to us to close a road for a special or community event.

We won’t normally charge for events organised by a charitable or local community organisation. We may make a charge where a commercial organisation benefits from a proposed closure.

Please read our ‘event organisers’ guide to closing a road’ before completing your application.

To apply, complete our application to close a road for a special event and send it to our street works team. You should also send us the relevant fee and a map showing the extents of the closure and signing schedule. We need to receive your application at least 12 weeks before the date of the requested closure.

We reserve the right to refuse a road closure and, depending on your event, we may also ask you to apply for a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order instead of a Town Police Clauses Act closure.

Road closures or traffic management may be needed for other reasons – for example building works, street cleaning or sporting events.

These closures are carried out under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 S.14 and S.16A.

A fee is payable in advance for these applications. This covers the processing and advertising of the legal order allowing us to close the road. 

For a full breakdown of fees see our fees and charges document.

To apply for a road closure or other temporary restriction, complete our application for a temporary traffic order and send it to our street works team with a copy of each accompanying plan. We need to receive your application at least 12 weeks before the date of the requested closure.

It may be possible to reuse the previous order if:

• a TTRO is required on the same section of highway for the same work within six months for public footpaths
• and/or within 18 months for carriageways

You will need to specify this on your TTRO application.

Utility companies

If you are a utility company or working on behalf of one, either attach your application to your work permit on Street Manager, or apply online (note: in both cases, all traffic management plans must be submitted via Street Manager only).

If you are not a utility company or do not represent one, you can either apply as you usually would or by completing the online application form (note: if applying online, you will need to attach traffic management plans within the application itself).

Where temporary management is needed for road closures, it must be carried out by people who are accredited to place signs on the public highway or by a traffic management company.

The exception to this is for street parties where traffic management can be arranged and maintained by the person applying for traffic management.