The permit is the small number. The parking bay suspension underneath the skip is the one that surprises people — in Kensington & Chelsea, a week costs £576 for a single bay, before the skip itself. Figures below were checked in October 2026; councils change them, so confirm before you quote.
Pick a borough and how long the skip would sit there.
| Borough | Skip permit | Bay suspension | Lead time / source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster | £87per month · rising to £91 from 2 Mar 2026 | £51/dayZones A, C, D. Zones B, E, F, G are higher (day 1 £55, days 2–5 £59, days 6–42 £90). | —westminster.gov.uk fees list |
| Kensington & Chelsea | —confirm current fee with RBKC | £72/dayPlus £357 one-off if applying on short notice (5 working days). A 7-day suspension of one bay = £576. | 5 working days for short noticerbkc.gov.uk suspension costs, from 1 Apr 2024 |
| Ealing | £128online application · add £168 inside a controlled parking zone (2026/27) | —CPZ surcharge replaces a separate suspension fee. | —council fees via vanthatsquick, checked Oct 2026 |
| Hounslow | £122.21per 14 days | —Bay suspension must be confirmed before the permit is issued. | up to 72 hourscouncil fees via vanthatsquick, checked Oct 2026 |
| Hillingdon | £90residents · £94.50 non-residents | — | 5 working days (3 to extend)council fees via vanthatsquick, checked Oct 2026 |
| Harrow | £82.30per 14 days · £82.30 for each extra fortnight | — | up to 10 working dayscouncil fees via vanthatsquick, checked Oct 2026 |
| Brent | £72.80per fortnight | —Bay suspension needs 21 days' notice — the part that catches people out. | 3 working days (21 days for a bay suspension)council fees via vanthatsquick, checked Oct 2026 |
| City of London | —skips are not permitted on the highway | —There is no skip option here. Clearance has to be loaded and removed. | —City of London policy — confirm before quoting |
Blank cells mean the figure isn't published clearly enough to quote. Ring the council rather than guess.
A Westminster skip licence is £87 a month. Suspending one bay for a fortnight in the same borough comes to £1,027.
Brent wants 21 days' notice for a bay suspension. Harrow takes up to 10 working days for the permit. A job that starts Monday can't have a skip.
Kensington & Chelsea adds £357 to process an application at five working days' notice — on top of the daily rate.
In the City of London skips aren't permitted on the highway at all. Red routes, bus lanes and narrow terraces rule plenty of other streets out too.
Our lorry loads from the road and leaves, so there's nothing on the highway to license and no bay to suspend. For a one-day clearance in a permit borough, that difference is usually bigger than the price of the clearance.
Where a skip still wins: long renovations where you need somewhere to throw waste daily for weeks, and sites with a driveway big enough to keep the skip off the public road entirely. We'll say so if that's your job.