Service
Consents & Approvals
Managing the licences, approvals and compliance obligations required by Network Rail and other stakeholders. We track what each party needs and when, keep the paperwork moving and chase the outstanding items, so consents do not become the thing holding up the works.
What it is
A scheme next to the railway rarely needs one permission. It needs a set of them, from different parties, with different lead times, and several of them depend on each other. Access licences, crane oversail consents, approval of temporary works, discharge of planning conditions, agreement of possessions and isolations, and the sign-off of individual asset protection conditions all sit in that set.
The failure mode is almost never a refusal. It is an item nobody owned: a submission that went in incomplete, a condition that needed discharging before another could be applied for, or a response that arrived and was never actioned. Consents management is the unglamorous work of making sure every one of those items has an owner, a date and a status.
When you need it
Typical triggers for this work:
- Your asset protection agreement has attached a schedule of conditions and you need them tracked to discharge.
- Works require access to, or over, Network Rail land and a licence or oversail consent is needed.
- Planning conditions relating to the railway have to be discharged before commencement.
- Multiple parties — client, contractor, designer, Network Rail, the local authority — each hold part of the approvals picture.
- A programme date is being driven by an approval that nobody can give a status for.
What Kanoni does
- Build a single consents register covering every approval the scheme needs, who grants it, who owns it and what it depends on.
- Map that register onto the construction programme so the critical approvals are visible against the dates they gate.
- Prepare and submit applications, and make sure they go in complete.
- Chase outstanding items and escalate where a date is at risk.
- Record discharge, and keep the evidence in one place for handover.
What you get
- A live consents and approvals register with owners, dependencies and status.
- Submitted applications and the correspondence trail behind each one.
- Early warning where an approval is drifting toward a programme date.
- A closed-out compliance file at completion.
No two schemes are the same. The scope above is the shape this work usually takes; what your scheme actually needs depends on the site, the works and what Network Rail asks for. We would rather establish that in a conversation than guess at it.
Other services
Related questions
Frequently asked
When does a developer need an asset protection agreement?
Generally when the works are close enough to Network Rail land or infrastructure that they could affect it. Common triggers include excavation near an embankment, cutting or retaining wall, piling, cranes and lifting operations near the line, scaffolding, demolition, drainage that discharges toward the railway, and anything that changes loading on railway earthworks. Distance alone does not decide it; the question is whether the works could credibly affect the railway, and Network Rail's asset protection team confirms whether an agreement is required.
What does a Network Rail asset protection review look at?
Broadly: what the works are, how close they come to railway assets, what could go wrong, and how that is controlled. Reviewers typically consider ground movement and its effect on earthworks and structures, loading and vibration, work near overhead line equipment or conductor rails, crane and lifting arrangements including any oversail of railway land, temporary works, drainage and surface water, method statements, and whether possessions or isolations are needed.
Who pays for Network Rail's time on a third-party scheme?
The third party promoting the works. Asset protection agreements are cost-recovery arrangements, so the developer or contractor funds Network Rail's review, supervision and any protective measures required. That cost is best allowed for in the project budget from the outset rather than treated as a later variation.
What is a glare assessment and when is one needed?
A glare assessment considers whether reflective surfaces such as glazing, cladding or solar panels, or new external lighting, could distract a train driver or make a signal harder to read. Network Rail may ask for one where a development overlooks the railway, particularly close to signals, and local planning authorities sometimes attach one as a planning condition.
Talk to us about consents & approvals
A short conversation early is usually enough to tell you whether this is a formality on your scheme or something that needs designing around.
- Telephone+44 7944 004747
- Emailcontact@kanoniconsultancy.co.uk
- ResponseWithin one working day