Bollard rules in England

Who decides about bollards on public land in England?

Pavements, verges and roads are usually adopted highway, and bollards there are a matter for the highway authority — the county council in two-tier areas, otherwise the unitary, metropolitan or London borough council, with National Highways on motorways and trunk roads and Transport for London on red routes. DfT's section 50 guidance lists bollard installation among works that should not go through a section 50 street works licence and points instead to the highway authority's own powers under section 80 of the Highways Act 1980 (section 66 also lets authorities provide posts to protect highway users). Some authorities use section 171 for private street furniture in the footway.

In practice: we install on private land, or on the highway only with the authority's written agreement. Placing an obstruction in the highway without lawful authority can be an offence under section 137. Check your title plan (HM Land Registry) and the council's adopted highways register before planning posts near the boundary.

Do bollards on private land need planning permission in England?

Often not, but it isn't clear-cut. Class A of Part 2 of the GPDO 2015 allows gates, fences, walls and other means of enclosure up to 1 m high next to a road used by vehicles (2 m elsewhere), but not within the curtilage of a listed building. Whether a bollard counts as a 'means of enclosure' isn't settled: one reported appeal found a row of retractable driveway bollards was not, while some councils accept bollards under Class A.

Listed buildings, conservation areas with an Article 4 direction, and anything forward of a building in a sensitive street are worth checking with the council's planning team first. If in doubt, a lawful development certificate gives certainty.

How far apart, how tall, and how visible?

Inclusive Mobility, the Department for Transport's accessibility guidance, recommends bollards at least 1,000 mm high with tonal and colour-contrasted tops, and says they shouldn't be linked with chains or ropes. Where bollards act as a vehicle security barrier, gaps should be no more than 1,200 mm; Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/11 measures that maximum 600 mm above finished ground and treats it as wide enough for wheelchairs and prams.

On cycle routes in England, Active Travel England asks for at least 1.5 m horizontal clearance at bollards and other vertical features. Across a fire appliance route, posts must keep the required clear width or be removable or retractable by the fire service — one fire and rescue service guidance summary of Approved Document B gives a minimum gateway width of 3.1 m, and in London the London Fire Brigade asks for removable or collapsible posts to be secured with a standard fire brigade padlock or GERDA key. Requirements vary between fire and rescue services.

In Great Britain the Equality Act 2010 sits behind these accessibility recommendations.

What do crash ratings mean?

Vehicle security barriers, including crash-rated bollards, are now rated to ISO 22343-1:2023, with ISO 22343-2 covering selection, installation and use. According to Secured by Design, ISO 22343-1 supersedes PAS 68 and IWA 14-1, but products already tested to those standards remain acceptable, and NPSA's list of impact-rated products still lists products rated to PAS 68, IWA 14-1 and ISO 22343-1.

A rating records the test vehicle's mass and class, the impact speed, the angle and how far the vehicle penetrated past the barrier. It applies to the product as tested — including its foundation. Change the foundation, the spacing or the fixing and the rating no longer tells you what the bollard will stop.

PAS 170-1 is a separate low-speed trolley test for single bollards (a 2,500 kg trolley at 16 or 32 km/h), aimed at car parks and shopfronts; it is not equivalent to a full vehicle test. Products tested only to the US ASTM F3016 low-speed method should not be described as HVM-rated.

We install specified rated products to the manufacturer's tested foundation. We don't design hostile vehicle mitigation schemes: NPSA recommends choosing barriers against a security operational requirement, with advice from a Counter Terrorism Security Adviser, a Register of Security Engineers and Specialists (RSES) member or a Chartered Security Professional.

Does Martyn's Law mean we need bollards?

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 — Martyn's Law — received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 and applies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Its main duties are not yet in force; the SIA, the regulator, expects the Act to come into force in spring 2027, with the exact date to be confirmed.

Standard-tier premises (200–799 people at once) must notify the SIA and have public protection procedures; the Home Office factsheet says the Act does not require physical alterations or specific equipment. Enhanced-tier premises and qualifying events (800 or more) must also have appropriate public protection measures so far as reasonably practicable — the enhanced duty factsheet gives hostile vehicle mitigation as an example of a physical measure, but does not mandate it.

So Martyn's Law does not require bollards. It may lead larger venues to consider them, and that assessment belongs with a qualified security adviser.

What about digging and site safety?

Before digging, HSE's HSG47 expects three things: plan the work, locate and identify buried services, and excavate safely. Plans alone aren't enough; services should be traced with a locator (and signal generator where possible), marked on the ground and confirmed with trial holes, with power tools kept 500 mm or more from a located service where practicable. LinesearchbeforeUdig is a useful free search of utility plans but not a complete one.

On construction work in Great Britain, CDM 2015 gives commercial clients specific duties — arrangements, time and resources, pre-construction information. For domestic clients (homeowners), those duties pass to the contractor.

Are there extra rules for automatic bollards?

Automatic rising bollards are powered equipment that can injure people and damage vehicles if they rise at the wrong moment. Traffic Advisory Leaflet 4/97 (Rising bollards) advises signs showing when bollards operate and who may pass, retroreflective stripes, detection that copes with motorcycles and trailers, never rising beneath a vehicle, failing safe (ideally retracted) and an override for the emergency services. The Door and Hardware Federation published a best-practice guide for automated rising bollards in 2024.

HSE says whoever assembles and puts a powered gate into service may take on manufacturer duties under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. Its guidance doesn't mention bollards specifically, but it's prudent to treat rising bollards the same way, so we agree at quote stage who provides the Declaration of Conformity, instructions and commissioning record. Owners of workplace installations should keep them maintained and inspected, as HSE's guidance on powered gates describes.

Sources checked 1 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; check with the relevant authority before relying on it.