Street collections

Before you apply for a street collection, you have to make sure you have permission from the land owner.

If you are collecting on the High Street, you will need to contact our City Centre Management team to ask for permission. 

You may also need to contact: 

You can download our model street collection regulations which contains the full requirements for street collections in Chelmsford.

Sign in or register

To apply for a street collection permit, you will need to:

  • sign in or register for an account
  • complete the application
  • upload your supporting documents
  • submit the form

To complete the application, you will need:

  • contact details for your organisation and any other organisation benefitting
  • your planned dates, location(s) for the collection and details of the collection (such as how many collectors you will authorise)
  • your plans for expenses and payments

You must include either the constitution of the charity you are collecting for, or a letter of consent from them authorising your collection.

The street collection permit will be valid for a specific location, and we will only issue one permit per day for that location.

Once we receive your application, we will:

  • review your application within 14 days
  • notify you of our decision
  • inform you of how you should carry out the collection, and what you need to do afterwards
  • inform you of where you should publish a statement about your collection

If you carry out a street collection without a permit, you could receive a fine of up to £200.

In some circumstances, such as national disasters or global appeals, we can process collection applications more quickly. You can contact us for further information.

Within one month of your collection, you need to supply a street collection return, to inform us of:

  • how much you collected
  • any expenses you incurred
  • how the charity are using the proceeds

You also need to publish a statement within one month of the collection. The statement needs to include:

  • who was responsible for the collection or sale
  • the charity or fund the money was donated to
  • the date of the collection or sale
  • the amount you collected
  • your expenses
  • the amount you donated to the charity

Which system to use

We upgraded our application system on 10 July 2023. This means that if we granted you a licence under the old system (before 10 July), you need to report your return under the old system.

If we granted your licence under the new system (on or after 10 July), you need to report your return using the new system.

If you applied for a licence using the old system

To supply a street collection return, you will need to:

If you are having trouble downloading the application form, you can read our guidance.

If you applied for a licence using the new system

Sign in or register

To supply a street collection return, you will need to:

To complete the street collection return form, you will need:

  • details of proceeds
  • details of any expenses or payments
  • information on how the balance was distributed

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