Filming Permit Tokyo: How to Get One — Complete Guide
Who issues a filming permit Tokyo productions need, what triggers one, realistic lead times, documentation, fees, and the city-specific gotchas that catch international crews
A filming permit Tokyo productions can rely on starts with knowing exactly who issues it and when to file. In Tokyo, filming permits are not centralised — most are issued by the relevant ward-level (区) permit office, coordinated through the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Film Office. Lead time: roughly 3–8 weeks. Public spaces: permitted with authorisation. The Japanese native term for this is 撮影許可 (satsuei kyoka), the filming permission Tokyo crews must hold before a single frame is shot on public space. This guide is the deep-dive companion to our Tokyo city guide. We walk through the authorities involved, what actually triggers a permit, how public and private spaces differ, realistic lead times by permit type, the insurance and documentation checklist, how fees are structured, what a fixer handles for you, and the city-specific gotchas that catch international crews. Our team files these authorisations with Tokyo authorities every week, so this guide stays grounded in how the process really works.
3–8 weeks typical permit lead time · 400+ permits handled in tokyo to date · 1 week fastest turnaround on record
Who Issues a Filming Permit Tokyo Productions Need
Ward (区) Offices, the Metropolitan Film Office, and the Specialist Authorities
Tokyo has no single film office that clears every shoot. The authority you apply to depends on the ward you film in and the impact you create. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Film Office is the city-wide coordinator, but most permits live at the ward level, and several other bodies hold their own jurisdictions.
- ●Ward-level (区) permit offices — the primary film offices for streets, parks, plazas, and ward-managed sites within each ward
- ●Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department — traffic stops, road closures, security perimeters, stunts, and pyrotechnics
- ●JR East, Tokyo Metro, and the private rail operators — stations, platforms, and trains
- ●MLIT and heritage-site administrations — drone flights and protected temples and shrines
Ward-Level (区) Offices and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Film Office
Most public filming in Tokyo is cleared by the relevant ward-level (区, ku) permit office — Shibuya-ku for Shibuya Crossing, Shinjuku-ku for Kabukicho, Taito-ku for Asakusa, Minato-ku for Roppongi and the waterfront, Chuo-ku for Ginza. Each ward handles requests for streets, plazas, public parks, and ward-managed buildings, and each issues the filming permission that names your production and its local representative. Above them, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Film Office sits inside the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs and acts as the city-wide coordinator and right first contact for inbound shoots. It reviews the shoot synopsis, the neighbourhood impact, and your insurance, issues letters of support, and coordinates with the wards rather than acting alone. For anything that affects traffic, needs a perimeter, or involves stunts, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department comes in. Knowing this front door, and what each ward expects, is the foundation of a clean Tokyo application.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police and Traffic Authorities
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is the second pillar of the Tokyo permit system. Anything that touches road traffic — lane closures, rolling roadblocks, parking suspensions for trucks and base camp — routes through them, as do stunts, weapons, pyrotechnics, and large crowd scenes. They set the security and traffic-management conditions that the ward attaches to your authorisation. For closures on major axes like Yamate-dori, Meiji-dori, or the Shuto Expressway routes, the police are the binding constraint on your schedule, and their planning cycles are the longest in the city. Build your timeline around them, not the other way round.
Specialist Authorities — Transit, Parks, Drones, and Heritage
Beyond the wards and the police, several specialist bodies hold their own permits. JR East governs the heavy-rail network, Tokyo Metro and Toei govern the subway, and the private operators run their own lines, each with separate applications and lead times. Ward parks services and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government rule certain flagship parks and gardens. Drone flights need a filing under the Civil Aeronautics Act with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), plus airspace clearance. Major heritage and religious sites — Senso-ji, Meiji Jingu, the Imperial Palace inner gardens (under the Imperial Household Agency), Tokyo Tower's restricted levels — are ruled by their own filming offices, not the ward. We coordinate across all of them on your behalf, and our companion city guide at /blog/filming-city-guide/ maps how these bodies connect.
What Triggers a Permit in Tokyo
Crew Size, Equipment Footprint, Public Space, Drones, Vehicles, and Audio
Not every camera in Tokyo needs a paper authorisation, but the threshold is lower than most international crews assume. These are the factors that move a shoot from informal to permit-required, and a shoot permit Tokyo authorities will expect you to hold.
- ●Crew size and footprint — tripods, lighting, rigging, and base camp on public streets and plazas
- ●Public versus private space — ward-managed streets, plazas, and parks almost always require an authorisation
- ●Drones, picture vehicles, and stunts — each adds its own approval layer
- ●Audio, crowd scenes, and night work — noise and public-impact thresholds
Crew Size, Equipment, and Public-Space Footprint
The clearest trigger is your physical footprint on public space. A tripod, a lighting package, track, rigging, or any kit that occupies the pavement or a parking bay turns a casual shoot into a permitted one. Crew numbers matter too: once you move beyond a handheld two- or three-person setup, the ward office expects an authorisation. Power packs, picture cars, and a base camp push you firmly into the six-to-eight-week planning band and trigger Tokyo Metropolitan Police involvement. The rule of thumb is simple — if you occupy public space or impede circulation, you need a permit, regardless of how short the shoot is. Tokyo wards also routinely expect door-knocking notice to immediate neighbours for residential-street setups.
Drones, Vehicles, Stunts, and Pyrotechnics
Several elements each add their own approval on top of the base authorisation. Drone work needs a Civil Aeronautics Act filing with MLIT, airspace clearance, and route planning — and central Tokyo is heavily off-limits under the Imperial Palace exclusion zone and the Haneda flight paths. Picture vehicles, process trailers, and any rig that moves on the road bring the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in for traffic management. Stunts, weapons, fire, and pyrotechnics trigger safety reviews and on-set authority presence. None of these clear quickly, and they cannot be added late, so they belong in your permit plan from the first scout, not the week before the shoot.
Audio, Crowd Scenes, and Night Work
The less obvious triggers are sound, crowds, and timing. Recording audio on public streets, especially with playback or amplification, raises residential noise considerations and can require additional conditions. Crowd scenes and supporting artists add public-safety review and, past a certain size, crowd-management plans coordinated with the police. Night work and early-morning calls in residential wards come with noise constraints that shape your shooting window. Each of these is manageable, but each is a condition the ward office and the police weigh when they decide what your authorisation allows. Declaring them up front is far better than discovering them on the day.
Public vs Private Spaces — Can You Film in Public in Japan?
Public Filming Permits, Private Releases, and the Permit to Film in Public Tokyo Crews Need
Can you film in public in Japan? Yes — public spaces in Tokyo are open to filming, but with an authorisation. This section answers the question directly and explains how the public-space and private-property tracks differ.
- ●Public space — streets, plazas, and parks are filmable with a public filming permit from the relevant ward (区)
- ●Private property — needs the owner's location release, and may still need a public permit for street access
- ●Semi-public spaces — shopping centres and stations run their own approval processes
- ●Incidental handheld shooting — sometimes possible under simplified declarations, but confirm first
Filming on Public Streets and Parks
Can you film in public in Japan? The direct answer is yes, with the right authorisation. Tokyo streets, plazas, public parks, and ward-managed buildings are all open to filming, but they sit on public space and require a permit to film in public Tokyo authorities issue through the relevant ward-level (区) office. You apply with your synopsis, schedule, crew size, equipment list, and insurance certificate, and you name a local production representative — almost always a Japanese line producer. A public filming permit is granted as long as your footprint, timing, and impact are reasonable for the location. The myth that you can simply turn up and shoot at Shibuya Crossing with a full crew is exactly the assumption that gets productions shut down.
Private Property and Location Releases
Private property follows a different track. Apartments, machiya townhouses, offices, shops, and other privately owned spaces need a signed location release from the owner or manager, not a ward permit. But the line blurs quickly: if your crew blocks the pavement, suspends parking, runs cable across a footway, or affects circulation outside a private building, you still need a public-space authorisation for that street impact. Building management, owners' associations, and tenants may each have to consent. Always confirm who actually holds the right to grant filming before you lock a private location into the schedule.
Semi-Public Spaces and Simplified Declarations
Between the two sit semi-public spaces — shopping centres, covered shotengai arcades, stations, and transit. These run their own protocols: JR East, Tokyo Metro, and the private rail operators for the network, and private management for malls and arcades. Some welcome shoots, others refuse outright, and most have set fees and lead times. At the lighter end, a genuinely small handheld setup with no equipment footprint can sometimes proceed under a simplified low-impact declaration rather than a full authorisation. That route is narrow and easy to misjudge, so confirm eligibility with your fixer before you rely on it. When in doubt, file the full authorisation — it is far cheaper than a shutdown.
Filming Permit Tokyo Lead Times by Type
Street, Park, Heritage, Drone, and Transit Timelines
Lead time is the single most important variable in a filming permit Tokyo schedule. The right number depends entirely on what you shoot and where. These are realistic ranges, not promises — every shoot has its own conditions.
- ●Standard street filming (small footprint): roughly 3–4 weeks per ward
- ●Larger setups with lighting, vehicles, or base camp: roughly 6–8 weeks
- ●Major road closures (Yamate-dori, Meiji-dori, Shuto Expressway routes): roughly 8–12 weeks
- ●Heritage sites and drone work: roughly 6–12 weeks, depending on the body and airspace
Street and Park Permits
Standard street filming with a small footprint — handheld or light kit, no truck, no base camp — typically clears the relevant ward-level (区) office in roughly three to four weeks. Add lighting packages, power, picture vehicles, or a crew base and you move to roughly six to eight weeks, because the Tokyo Metropolitan Police now has to plan around your impact. Public parks and flagship gardens add the parks service or the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to the chain, which can extend timelines. Critically, a single shooting day that crosses multiple wards needs a separate application for each ward. None of these are guarantees: peak season, busy districts, and incomplete applications all push the window out. The earlier you file, the more room you leave for revisions.
Heritage, Temple, and Transit Permits
Heritage and landmark filming runs on the longest civilian timelines. Senso-ji, Meiji Jingu, the Imperial Palace inner gardens (under the Imperial Household Agency), and Tokyo Tower's restricted levels are governed by their own filming offices, with roughly six to twelve weeks of lead time, steep location fees, and approvals that hinge on shot lists, gear lists, and sometimes a script review of any sequence shown within the precinct. Transit is its own world: JR East for heavy rail, Tokyo Metro and Toei for the subway, and the private operators, each with separate applications and review cycles that rarely move fast. These bodies have fixed review rhythms, so a late request can simply miss the window. Treat heritage and transit as the first items on your permit calendar.
Drone and Traffic-Impact Permits
Drone and major-road work need the most planning of all. Drone flights require a Civil Aeronautics Act filing with MLIT plus airspace clearance, and central Tokyo is dense with restricted zones — the Imperial Palace exclusion zone, the Haneda flight paths, and government districts — so timelines run long and some locations are simply not flyable. Major axis closures — Yamate-dori, Meiji-dori, the Shuto Expressway routes — are technically possible but need roughly eight to twelve weeks through the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and some are not closable at all during commute peaks, the Tokyo Marathon, or major events. These are ranges that depend on conditions; never schedule principal photography on the assumption that a complex permit will land on time.
Insurance and Documentation Checklist
Public Liability, Work Permits, Equipment Manifests, and Location Releases
A clean application stands on complete documentation. Missing or non-compliant paperwork is the most common reason a Tokyo authorisation stalls. This is the checklist we build for every Tokyo shoot before we file.
- ●Public liability insurance — typically ¥100M+ cover, from an insurer the authority recognises
- ●Production details — synopsis, shooting schedule, crew size, and a named Japanese local representative
- ●Equipment manifest — kit list, picture vehicles, generators, and any specialist gear
- ●Location releases and work permits — owner consents and, for some crew, Japanese work authorisation
Insurance and Public Liability
Public liability insurance is non-negotiable for a Tokyo authorisation. Ward offices and most location authorities expect cover in the region of ¥100 million or more, scaled to the complexity of the location, and they expect it from an insurer they recognise. International productions routinely find their home-country policy does not satisfy a Japanese permit office, either on the cover amount, the recognised insurer, or the specific risks. Drone work, picture vehicles, stunts, and crowd scenes each carry their own cover requirements. Working with a local production service means the recognised Japanese insurance ties are already in place, and cover can be extended to your inbound crew.
Documentation Package and Equipment Manifest
Every application is built on a core records package: production company details, a local contact, the shoot synopsis, the shooting schedule, crew-size estimates, and a full equipment manifest. The manifest matters more than crews expect — picture vehicles, generators, lighting packages, drones, and specialist rigs all need declaring, and each can change which authority is involved and how long approval takes. International shoots also need customs documentation for imported equipment, usually handled under an ATA carnet. Every ward form is in Japanese. A complete, accurate package filed on time is the single biggest factor in a fast, clean Tokyo approval, and the most common point of failure when it is missing.
Location Releases and Work Authorisations
Two further documents round out the checklist. Location releases — signed consents from the owners or managers of private spaces — are essential for any private property, and you need to confirm the signatory actually holds the right to grant filming. Work authorisation is the other: non-Japanese crew members often need the appropriate Japanese work visa, and some sensitive locations call for background checks or child-protection arrangements when minors are on set. None of this is exotic, but it cannot be assembled overnight. We build these releases and authorisations into the permit timeline from the first scout, so nothing surfaces as a surprise in the final week.
Costs and Fees Structure
How Tokyo Permit Fees Are Built — Ranges and Structure, Not Fixed Rates
Permit costs in Tokyo are structured rather than fixed, and the published rates change, so we deal in structure and ranges here. The total depends on the ward, the impact, and the authority involved.
- ●Ward-level (区) authorisations — generally modest for standard street filming, scaling with footprint
- ●Heritage, temple, and landmark sites — location fees set case by case, often the largest single line
- ●Traffic management and security — Tokyo Metropolitan Police conditions can add cost for closures
- ●Deposits, bonds, and admin — some locations require a guarantee against damage
How Tokyo Permit Costs Are Structured
Rather than a single price, a Tokyo shoot carries a stack of fees that scale with its impact. Standard street authorisations from the ward office are generally modest for a small footprint and rise with the size of your setup, the duration, and any parking or traffic impact. Heritage and religious sites are a different order: their location fees are set case by case and are frequently the largest single line on the permit budget. Transit, parks, and private locations each add their own charges, and Japanese consumption tax applies to most production services. Because these published rates change from year to year, we treat them as ranges and confirm the live figures with each authority during pre-production.
Traffic, Security, and Specialist Surcharges
Where the Tokyo Metropolitan Police is involved, cost follows complexity. Road closures, rolling roadblocks, parking suspensions, and security perimeters can each carry charges for the management they require, and stunts or pyrotechnics may need authority presence on set. Drone operations add their own administrative layer. None of these are flat fees — they depend on the axis, the timing, and the conditions imposed. The practical point is that a complex Tokyo permit is rarely the headline location fee alone; it is that fee plus the traffic, security, and specialist surcharges stacked on top. We map the full stack so the budget holds no late surprises.
Deposits, Bonds, and Budgeting Realistically
Some Tokyo locations — heritage and temple sites above all — require a deposit or bond as a guarantee against damage, refunded after a clean wrap. Others ask for proof that your insurance covers the exact activity you are filming before they will quote. Because exact rates shift and vary so widely by ward and impact, the only reliable approach is a tailored estimate built against your specific locations and schedule. Our team prepares a line-by-line permit cost estimate during pre-production, drawn from current rates with each authority, so producers can budget against real structure rather than a guessed figure that ages badly.
What Fixers Handle for You
From DIY Applications to Coordinated Authority Liaison
International crews can attempt Tokyo permits alone, but the structure works against them: Japanese-language filing, a required Japanese local representative, recognised insurance, and multiple authorities on different clocks. This is the work a fixer takes off your plate.
- ●Acts as the named Japanese local production representative every Tokyo authorisation requires
- ●Files Japanese-language applications correctly with the right ward (区) the first time
- ●Holds recognised Japanese insurance and extends cover to inbound crews
- ●Coordinates the ward offices, the police, transit, parks, and heritage offices in parallel
The Local Representative Requirement
Ward offices and most Tokyo location authorities require a named Japanese local production representative on the authorisation — someone who responds at once to on-set issues, holds a local phone line, speaks Japanese, and has the authority to make production decisions. For an inbound crew with no Tokyo presence, this is a hard structural barrier, not a convenience. The permit office wants someone they can reach early in the morning if neighbours complain about a call time or weather raises a safety question. A fixer or Japanese line producer is that named representative, which is precisely the relationship the authorisation is built around, and the single most common thing DIY applications cannot satisfy.
Correct Filing and Parallel Coordination
Beyond representation, a fixer files correctly and in parallel. Tokyo applications are in Japanese, and small errors in scope, footprint, or routing send a request back to the start of the queue. Because a single shoot often touches several ward offices, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, JR East or Tokyo Metro, a parks service, and a heritage office, the work is to run all of them at once against one schedule, not sequentially — and a multi-ward day needs a separate filing per ward. We know each office's priorities — local spend, crew hiring, clean operations, neighbour notification — and frame each application accordingly. That coordination is the difference between a permit plan that lands on schedule and one that unravels in the final fortnight.
Insurance, Customs, and Risk Reduction
A fixer also closes the practical gaps that stall inbound shoots. We hold recognised Japanese public liability cover and extend it to your crew, so the insurance the permit office expects is already in place. We arrange customs handling and ATA carnets for imported equipment, and Japanese payroll for any local crew, with consumption tax, social insurance, and withholding duties accounted for. And we carry the risk knowledge: which axes are not closable in which weeks, which sites need bonds, which simplified declarations are genuinely viable, and which wards require neighbour notification. The result is fewer hand-offs, shorter pre-production, and far lower odds of the shutdown, fine, or rejection that an under-prepared DIY application invites. Start a Tokyo permit conversation at /contact/.
Tokyo-Specific Gotchas
Seasonal Blackouts, Tourist-Zone Restrictions, and Residential Noise Rules
Even a well-built application can be undone by the Tokyo calendar and the city's local rules. These are the city-specific traps that catch international crews most often, and the ones we plan around by default.
- ●Seasonal blackouts — cherry blossom season, Golden Week, Obon, and New Year squeeze availability
- ●Tourist-zone density — Shibuya, Asakusa, and Shinjuku are dense, forcing early-morning windows
- ●Residential notification rules — door-knocking notice and noise limits shape what you can shoot when
- ●Short-notice overrides — state events and security operations can close districts no permit can defend
Seasonal Blackouts and Calendar Closures
The Tokyo calendar can pull whole districts and the entire permit system out of the production pipeline regardless of your shoot. Cherry blossom (sakura) season in late March to early April closes ward-level access in flagship parks (Ueno, Shinjuku Gyoen, Yoyogi, Chidorigafuchi) and fills central hotels. Golden Week, the chain of national holidays from late April into the first week of May, closes most government and ward offices for nearly two weeks. Obon in mid-August drains crew for about a week, and New Year, from late December into the first week of January, is the longest single shutdown of the year. Major events such as the Tokyo Marathon and the Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa can also trigger short-notice closures of specific districts that no authorisation can override. We plan every Tokyo schedule against this calendar from the first scout, because a permit cannot defend a date the city has already claimed.
Tourist-Zone Restrictions and Shoot Windows
The central tourist zones — Shibuya Crossing, the Senso-ji approach in Asakusa, and Shinjuku's Kabukicho — are dense for much of the year, and post-pandemic inbound tourism has pushed footfall well above earlier levels. That density shapes what is shootable and when. Shibuya-ku works closely with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on any setup that holds crowds or stages tripods on the scramble, so most global shoots clear it either as low-impact handheld work or through a negotiated early-morning closure window, often 5 to 7 AM, before the crowds arrive. Taito-ku and the Senso-ji administration weigh public impact heavily in the temple precinct. Early windows and side-street alternatives are the standard working answer.
Residential Notification Rules and Night Work
Residential Tokyo runs on strict neighbour-notification and noise-sensitive hours, and those rules shape your authorisation directly. Tokyo wards routinely require door-knocking notice to immediate neighbours for residential-street shoots, and some need posted notices three to seven days in advance. Night work and early-morning calls come with noise constraints, and complaints from residents can bring a shoot to a halt even with a valid permit in hand. Generators, playback, amplified audio, and base-camp activity all draw scrutiny in residential streets. This is exactly why the local-representative requirement exists: the authority wants someone reachable to manage neighbours and de-escalate in real time. We build residential notification and noise rules into the schedule up front, so the constraint shapes the plan rather than ambushing the shoot day.
Common Questions
Can I film in public spaces without a permit in Tokyo?
In almost all cases, no. Tokyo streets, plazas, public parks, and ward-managed buildings sit on public space and require a filming permission (撮影許可) from the relevant ward-level (区) office, coordinated through the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Film Office. The moment you set up a tripod, lighting, or any equipment footprint, or work with more than a tiny handheld crew, you need a permit. A genuinely minimal handheld setup with no kit can sometimes proceed under a simplified low-impact declaration, but that route is narrow and easy to misjudge. Confirm with your fixer before relying on it, because filming without the right authorisation risks an immediate shutdown.
How long does a filming permit take in Tokyo?
It depends entirely on the shoot. Ward offices typically process standard street filming with a small footprint in roughly three to four weeks per ward. Larger setups with lighting, generators, picture vehicles, or base camp run roughly six to eight weeks, because they need Tokyo Metropolitan Police sign-off. Major road closures on Yamate-dori, Meiji-dori, or the Shuto Expressway routes take roughly eight to twelve weeks. Heritage sites such as Senso-ji and Meiji Jingu, and drone work, also run six to twelve weeks under their own authorities. A multi-ward day needs a separate filing per ward. These are ranges, not guarantees, and cherry blossom season, Golden Week, Obon, and New Year all push timelines out, so file as early as possible.
How much does a filming permit cost in Tokyo?
Tokyo permit costs are structured rather than fixed, and the published rates change year to year, so we deal in structure and ranges. Standard street authorisations from the ward office are generally modest for a small footprint and scale up with the size of your setup, duration, and traffic impact. Heritage, temple, and landmark sites set location fees case by case, and those are frequently the largest single line. Traffic management, security, deposits, and bonds can stack on top for complex shoots, and Japanese consumption tax applies to most services. Because exact figures shift, our team prepares a tailored line-by-line estimate during pre-production from current rates, so the budget holds no surprises.
Do I need a permit for a small documentary shoot in Tokyo?
Often, yes. The trigger in Tokyo is your footprint on public space, not the genre or the budget. A small documentary crew filming handheld with no equipment and no setup on a public street can sometimes proceed under a simplified low-impact declaration. But the moment you add a tripod, lighting, sound kit, or occupy the pavement, or film inside or beside a heritage site, a rail network, or private property, you need the appropriate authorisation. Documentary work also frequently involves interviews and audio on public streets, which raises noise considerations and, in residential wards, neighbour-notification duties. When in doubt, confirm with your fixer rather than assuming the shoot is exempt.
What happens if I shoot without a permit in Tokyo?
The consequences range from an immediate shutdown to lasting damage to your standing with the city. Police can stop the shoot, move the crew on, and issue citations, and unpermitted filming can void your insurance if an incident occurs. Authorities and ward offices keep records, so a flagged production faces tougher scrutiny on future Tokyo applications. For an international shoot, the lost shoot day, the crew and location costs, and the reputational hit far outweigh any time saved by skipping the authorisation. The risk is simply not worth it — the permit process exists precisely so productions can shoot with certainty rather than improvising and hoping.
Can my fixer get the permit for me in Tokyo?
Yes — this is core to what a fixer does, and in practice it is why most international productions use one. Ward offices and Tokyo location authorities require a named Japanese local production representative on the authorisation, and your fixer or line producer is that person. We file the Japanese-language applications with the right ward, hold recognised Japanese insurance and extend it to your crew, and coordinate the ward offices, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, transit operators, parks services, and heritage offices in parallel against one schedule. We also handle customs, Japanese payroll, neighbour notification, and the risk knowledge that keeps a permit plan on track. It is faster, cheaper, and lower-risk than building those relationships from scratch.
Related Services
Need a Filming Permit in Tokyo?
A Tokyo authorisation does not have to slow your production. Our team files with the ward-level (区) offices, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Film Office, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, transit operators, parks services, and heritage offices every week, and we act as the Japanese local production representative every permit requires. We know which axes are closable in which weeks, which sites need bonds, which wards require neighbour notification, and how to present a production for the fastest clean approval.