Traffic Management Orders (TMOs)

You’ll need to apply for a licence for a Temporary Traffic Order (TMO) if a road needs to be closed for work such as:

• streetworks
• construction

Not all on-street restrictions require a TMO, for example:

• box junctions
• road humps
• pedestrian crossings

What TMOs do

TMOs are legal documents that help manage roads, traffic or parking. They set out restrictions that control things like speed limits, one-way streets and yellow lines.

There are two kinds of restriction:

• parking and loading restrictions or 'static restrictions'
• speed and movement restrictions or 'moving restrictions' 

Experimental and permanent orders

An experimental order lasts no longer than 18 months before they're either:

• allowed to lapse
• amended or made permanent

Permanent orders apply to most signs and lines that are placed on streets, such as:

• single/double yellow lines
• parking places
• prohibited and compulsory turns
• one-way traffic working 
• speed limits

Who needs to be consulted

To set up a TMO we must consult with:

• police
• the ambulance service
• the fire brigade
• bus operators
• the road haulage association
• the freight transport association

We’ll contact other groups affected by a TMO, for example, cycling and disability groups.

Where we advertise TMOs

We have to publish a ‘notice’ to advertise TMOs and their impact in the London Gazette. 

In most cases, the notices are also published in a local newspaper. 

We sometimes put up printed notices: 

• on-site
• on affected roads
• in other places affected by the orders