Apply for consent to distribute free printed materials (leaflets, flyers, etc)
To better control litter, the council has designated 3 areas of the city centre as consent areas for the distribution of free printed materials.
If you want to distribute free printed materials such as leaflets, booklets, flyers or newspapers in any of these areas, you must apply for a consent card first.
Consent cards cost £336 and are valid for 12 months. Your application will be processed within 7 days.
The designated consent areas
The 3 designated consent areas are the city centre retail area, Digbeth and the Hurst Street area.
The consent card covers all 3 areas and all 3 areas share boundaries, so you can treat them as 1 large area.
- list of consent streets in the city centre retail area
- list of consent streets in the Digbeth area
- list of consent streets in the Hurst Street
Exceptions
You do not need to apply for consent if your free printed materials are for:
- charitable causes
- political purposes
- religious beliefs
Events, incentives and product sampling in the city centre
If you want to hold a promotional event (for example: setting up stalls, use of vehicles, actors, costumes, video screens), or wish to distribute incentives or product samples in the city centre, then this is organised separately through the City Centre Operations Team.
More information is on our "hold an event" page.
You may still need free literature consent. The City Centre Operations team will advise you about this.
Apply online
Apply for consent to distribute free printed materials
Terms of use
You can share your consent card with anyone you choose, providing it is used by one person at a time and they do not break any of our conditions.
You will need to pay for additional consent cards if you want more than one person to distribute your free printed materials at the same time. For instance, if you wanted 10 people to hand out leaflets together, you would need to apply and pay for 10 individual consent cards.
Contact us
For further information, complete our general enquiry form, or phone 0121 303 9902.
Page last updated: 2 April 2024