Apply for a licence

This page explains who grants licences and how to apply for a licence.

Who grants licences?

This will depend on:

• whether the activity is manufacturing or simply storing
• whether an explosives certificate from the police is needed to acquire and keep the explosives
• the quantity of explosives

Licensing and enforcement authorities (by location, type and quantity of explosive)

* Explosives that do not require an explosives certificate are listed in Schedule 1 to the Control of Explosives Regulations.

Local licensing authorities

England: The Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority in the metropolitan counties (West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Tyne and Wear, South, and West Yorkshire), as well as in Cornwall and Oxfordshire. For all other areas, the enforcing authority will normally be the trading standards department of the local authority (in some parts of England this will be part of the county council).

Scotland and Wales: For explosives not requiring an explosives certificate the enforcing authority is the local council.

Where a district council or city council has taken over the functions of the county council, the authority may have agreed with the police or combined fire authority for the fire authority to enforce and the administer licensing on its behalf.

Apply for a licence from HSE

Read the Memorandum of guidance for applicants before completing the application form.

Enclose a draft licence, which must include the following:

• Explosives schedule (lists all explosives which can be present at the site)
• Building schedule(s) (identifies each building, its use, construction, and the nature and maximum quantities of explosives or other dangerous materials present)
• Site plans – two scaled plans:
  • one to scale in the range of 1:1250 to 1:2500 showing the location of the proposed site and surrounding area for at least 2 km in all directions
  • one showing the site layout

If you have further evidence to support the suitability of the proposed site, you should enclose copies of this evidence. Examples include reports of explosives surveys by the MoD’s Explosive Storage and Transport Committee.

If you are applying to vary an existing licence then you must enclose a draft varying licence.

Enclose the relevant application fee. Fees are payable on the scale laid down in the current Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations. There is an initial fee for all licences and a further fee payable for all work done on MSER and PORTS licences.