Three separate authorities cover the ground between Lyme Regis and Christchurch, and a good deal of the best of it belongs to nobody official at all. Knowing which route you are on before you start saves a fortnight.
● The short version
Permission to film in Dorset depends entirely on who owns the ground you are standing on. Dorset Council land — Weymouth Beach and Esplanade, Chesil Beach Esplanade, West Bay Harbour, Lyme Regis Harbour and the Cobb among them — needs a filming permit, and the council asks for £10m public liability cover, £10m employer's liability cover and a risk assessment. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are a different authority: the BCP Film Office is the single point of contact there, handling permits and coordinating highways, parks and licensing. Private land needs no council permit at all — it needs the owner's written permission and a location agreement. Separately, road closures, drone flights and anything involving uniforms, firearms or staged incidents need clearing with the relevant authority whoever owns the land. EXT. is a location library, not a film office.
● DORSETPERMISSIONS, INSURANCE & NOTICE
The ground under your tripod has an owner.
Dorset is not one jurisdiction. The unitary authority covers most of the county, BCP covers the conurbation, and a large share of the coastline and the great houses are in private, estate or charitable ownership. Below is what each route actually asks for.
FID/01
Do I need a permit to film in Dorset?
Only if you are on land the council owns. Commercial filming, drone filming or photography intended for broadcast or public viewing on Dorset Council land requires a filming permit. Stills taken by an individual for personal use do not; the moment the images are put to commercial use, they do.
Three routes to permission
Where you are
Who to ask
What they want
Dorset Council land
Dorset Council filming permit
£10m public liability, £10m employer's liability, risk assessment
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole
BCP Film Office
Application form, risk assessment, public liability cover
Private land
The owner — or their agent
Written permission and a location agreement
The public highway
The highway authority
Traffic management or a closure order [JONNY: confirm — is Dorset Highways the correct named route for closures, and who covers BCP roads?]
National Trust, Crown Estate, private estates
Each body separately
[JONNY: confirm — which stretches of our coverage sit under NT / Crown Estate / named estates, and their contact route]
FID/02
What does Dorset Council require?
Filming permissions sit with the council's commercial and procurement team. Before a permit is granted they will want:
£10 million public liability insurance
£10 million employer's liability insurance
A risk assessment
Agreement to the council's filming code of conduct
Filming fees may apply depending on the location and the scale of the unit. The council asks that you consult and inform residents and businesses likely to be disrupted — which is worth doing properly, because it is the thing that determines whether the second day of a two-day shoot goes smoothly.
Popular council-owned locations include Weymouth Beach and Esplanade, Weymouth Harbour, Lodmoor Country Park, Chesil Beach Esplanade, West Bay Harbour, and Lyme Regis Harbour and the Cobb.
FID/03
How much notice does a Dorset permit need?
Dorset Council asks for ten working days' notice, and aims to give an initial response within one working day of an application landing. Time-sensitive requests inside three days should go straight to the team by phone rather than through the form.
In practice, build the permit into your recce schedule rather than your prep schedule. A fortnight is comfortable; a week is tight; three days is a phone call and a favour.
FID/04
Who handles Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?
BCP is a separate unitary authority from Dorset Council, and a Dorset Council permit does not carry across the boundary. The BCP Film Office is the single point of contact for filming on BCP land, and coordinates with council teams including highways, parks and licensing. Their published requirement is an application form, a risk assessment and public liability cover.
[JONNY: confirm — BCP's minimum public liability figure and stated notice period, so we can state them rather than paraphrase]
FID/05
Do I need a permit to film on private land?
No. There is no council permit for filming on privately owned land in Dorset. What you need instead is the owner's written permission and a location agreement between the production and the owner — the document that sets out access dates and hours, unit size, what may be moved or dressed, insurance, reinstatement and the fee.
That is the whole of what EXT. does. We represent the owners of landscapes, houses and places of interest, and put productions in front of them with the paperwork already understood on both sides.
A verbal yes from an owner is not permission. If a shoot is worth insuring, it is worth a signed agreement — and most owners are relieved to be asked for one.
FID/06
What needs clearing regardless of who owns the land?
Ownership settles access. It does not settle everything else. Whoever owns the ground, you will need the relevant authority's agreement for:
Road closures and traffic management — including parking suspensions and anything that narrows a footway
Drone flights over public land — landowner permission and the flight itself are two separate questions [JONNY: confirm — do we want to state CAA operational categories here, or link out only?]
Uniforms, firearms, and staged incidents — anything a member of the public might reasonably mistake for the real thing needs the police told in advance [JONNY: confirm — correct Dorset Police notification route for productions]
Coastal work adds its own layer. Tide windows, cliff-edge access and seasonal restrictions on nesting and marine sites vary by site rather than by county [JONNY: confirm — which seasonal restrictions apply across our Jurassic Coast sites and their dates].
FID/07
Is EXT. a film office?
No, and it matters that we say so plainly. A film office is a public body: it grants permission on land its authority owns and coordinates the council services around a shoot. EXT. is a private location library. We hold the relationships with owners of land and property, negotiate access to them, and license it.
If you are shooting on council land in Dorset, go to Dorset Council. If you are shooting in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole, go to the BCP Film Office. If you are shooting somewhere privately owned and want it found, cleared and agreed, that is us.