Drop kerb extension needed?
Discussion
Planning on knocking down wall at the front of the house, it is already falling down anyway, to make a bigger drive, already have single drive with a single drop kerb in place. If I concrete over the lawn at the front do I need to speak to the council and pay for a drop kerb extension?
Red is where the current drop kerb is
Blue is the wall that is coming down
Green is the angle that the driveway would be entered from using the drop kerb, the kerbs are way too high to exit straight off anyway, but at the moment it is an expense we could do without and isn't really needed in my view.
I know from rough size I shouldn't need planning to do it, as drainage etc is easy to sort out within the planning rules and size it would just be inside the "not needed" limit for planning with our local authority.
Red is where the current drop kerb is
Blue is the wall that is coming down
Green is the angle that the driveway would be entered from using the drop kerb, the kerbs are way too high to exit straight off anyway, but at the moment it is an expense we could do without and isn't really needed in my view.
I know from rough size I shouldn't need planning to do it, as drainage etc is easy to sort out within the planning rules and size it would just be inside the "not needed" limit for planning with our local authority.
Are you sure about the planning permission side of things? Councils are quite strict over these matters of water run-off.
This site may help - https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/commo...
This site may help - https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/commo...
A500leroy said:
Council always have to do dropped kerbs due to public liability, if they will grant an extension though is anyones guess
No they don't, several councils have a list of approved contractors, whilst others will allow anybody to do it and send an inspector around afterwards.We got a quote from our local council for extension of a dropped kerb and even though the materials were probably less than £100, then wanted more than £1500, so we haven't bothered. They said we couldn't do it ourselves and outside contractors would need a licence to perform highways work - they didn't provide any names either.
chopper602 said:
We got a quote from our local council for extension of a dropped kerb and even though the materials were probably less than £100, then wanted more than £1500, so we haven't bothered. They said we couldn't do it ourselves and outside contractors would need a licence to perform highways work - they didn't provide any names either.
Was that on a main road or an "estate" road. Certainly my experience is that some councils aren't to concerned if it's on an estate road.Drumroll said:
No they don't, several councils have a list of approved contractors, whilst others will allow anybody to do it and send an inspector around afterwards.
This is correct, technically the Council can prosecute (extremely rare) if you drive over footways to park on your drive. Vehicle crossing require sub-base to allow for trafficking whereas your normal footway is not designed to be driven onGandoolie said:
Drumroll said:
No they don't, several councils have a list of approved contractors, whilst others will allow anybody to do it and send an inspector around afterwards.
This is correct, technically the Council can prosecute (extremely rare) if you drive over footways to park on your drive. Vehicle crossing require sub-base to allow for trafficking whereas your normal footway is not designed to be driven onI think most councils only allow entrances to be 5.4 meters wide with wings (the slanted ones). You don't need to account for neighbours just from boundary join.
Its slightly annoying as 2 cars parked side by side on a drive ideally need a wider entrance. Instead have to use the wings. This coming from experience of having widened and recentealised our driveway.
Some councils now ask for £ upfront an inspection charge before issuing permit and then having to use x contractors list. I think ours was around 2k all in 3 years ago.
Its slightly annoying as 2 cars parked side by side on a drive ideally need a wider entrance. Instead have to use the wings. This coming from experience of having widened and recentealised our driveway.
Some councils now ask for £ upfront an inspection charge before issuing permit and then having to use x contractors list. I think ours was around 2k all in 3 years ago.
Edited by PisstNBroke on Sunday 28th February 21:08
Councils want to maintain on-street parking, every dropped kerb takes away a space. They may limit the width so that there is still enough on street parking.
They recently refused a full width dropped kerb for my neighbour as it would have only left half a space on the road. Neighbour was not pleased, I was!
They recently refused a full width dropped kerb for my neighbour as it would have only left half a space on the road. Neighbour was not pleased, I was!
Some years ago, my next-door-but-one neighbour decided to build a garage in his front garden. He dug the foundations (he was a builder) and started to build the walls up. Much progress was made - he was almost at the point of cutting a hole in his hedge to lay the drive - when he applied to the council for the kerb to be dropped.
Council man came to measure and inspect, and gave a point-blank refusal on the spot; too near to a road junction.
The part-finished garage now serves as a raised herb-bed for his missus...
Council man came to measure and inspect, and gave a point-blank refusal on the spot; too near to a road junction.
The part-finished garage now serves as a raised herb-bed for his missus...
If you type drop kerbs into yell.com for your local area it will more than likely bring up a list of contractors available.
We were in a similar position to you about 6 years ago, we also wanted to convert our front garden into a hard standing with block paving for use as off road parking,
We had approached the council who sent a chap out to give us a price,
this was to have 6 kerbs dropped + a transition at one end so that the drop zone covered nearly the full width of our property
he quoted about £1000 and I said I would be in touch.
The following week we had contractors on the street to tarmac a section of the road around the corner so I approached the foreman to ask if they did drop kerbs,
he pointed out that they performed most of the road works in our area and if I went to the council they would almost certainly be the ones doing the work anyway.
I think they charged us £600 which covered dropping the kerbs, laying a new section of tarmac to suit the new lowered kerbs and taking care of any approval and sign off,
We had our block paving installed at the same time by the same contractors which probably got us a slightly better deal on the drop kerbs.
You may need permission for the hard standing, I think it depends on the type of surface and the provision put in place to deal with water run-off as they don't seem to like having extra water running into the public drains.
A friendly chat with your hopefully helpful local planning dept should give you a good idea of what's possible and what steps to take
We were in a similar position to you about 6 years ago, we also wanted to convert our front garden into a hard standing with block paving for use as off road parking,
We had approached the council who sent a chap out to give us a price,
this was to have 6 kerbs dropped + a transition at one end so that the drop zone covered nearly the full width of our property
he quoted about £1000 and I said I would be in touch.
The following week we had contractors on the street to tarmac a section of the road around the corner so I approached the foreman to ask if they did drop kerbs,
he pointed out that they performed most of the road works in our area and if I went to the council they would almost certainly be the ones doing the work anyway.
I think they charged us £600 which covered dropping the kerbs, laying a new section of tarmac to suit the new lowered kerbs and taking care of any approval and sign off,
We had our block paving installed at the same time by the same contractors which probably got us a slightly better deal on the drop kerbs.
You may need permission for the hard standing, I think it depends on the type of surface and the provision put in place to deal with water run-off as they don't seem to like having extra water running into the public drains.
A friendly chat with your hopefully helpful local planning dept should give you a good idea of what's possible and what steps to take
pits said:
Red is where the current drop kerb is
Blue is the wall that is coming down
Green is the angle that the driveway would be entered from using the drop kerb, the kerbs are way too high to exit straight off anyway, but at the moment it is an expense we could do without and isn't really needed in my view.
If money is that tight, you may wish to reconsider concrete. A slab of 10 sq metres (i.e one car space) will cost you about £100 for a couple of bags of hardcore, £50 for a day's hire of a whacker, £30 in materials for basic shuttering and then a few hundred in concrete. Assuming you don't need to buy any tools and can do the work yourself, £500 when all is said and done. Cheapest driveway material is always going to be some form of aggregate.Blue is the wall that is coming down
Green is the angle that the driveway would be entered from using the drop kerb, the kerbs are way too high to exit straight off anyway, but at the moment it is an expense we could do without and isn't really needed in my view.
It sounds like you have already looked into drainage but just in case you haven't, you will need either a permeable surface (not concrete!) or a soakaway (more expense!). Yes it can be annoying but my street floods because we have too many impermeable driveways emptying into the drains that were put in before the cars arrived, and one of my neighbours put in a driveway which floods a couple of times a year (street fills it up) causing a damp problem in his house for weeks after. Fun!
Cheers all, I have done some more research and nosed around the street and it does seem that no one has extended the drop kerb for the double drive.
As for the planning, yes it does appear I was wrong I read the wrong SQM which our local council allows up to 5sqm, and I am way over that, so I have gone for option 2 which will be scalpings and stone dust, whacker, membrane and stones, retaining the permeable surface and should be perfect for parking car on then.
Budget isn't that tight, I just know how much a drop kerb roughly costs and it is something I would rather not spend with a kitchen and bathroom next on the list.
Thanks for all the help though, hoping to have it mostly done by Sunday.
As for the planning, yes it does appear I was wrong I read the wrong SQM which our local council allows up to 5sqm, and I am way over that, so I have gone for option 2 which will be scalpings and stone dust, whacker, membrane and stones, retaining the permeable surface and should be perfect for parking car on then.
Budget isn't that tight, I just know how much a drop kerb roughly costs and it is something I would rather not spend with a kitchen and bathroom next on the list.
Thanks for all the help though, hoping to have it mostly done by Sunday.
I wanted to do this too as we have had all of our drive and from garden area tarmacked. From what I read on my local council site, It costs £100 to apply, will probably be refused and if granted would cost about £2k.
I just bump my £250 shed up the kerb! I live in a cul de sac and it still seemed like a nightmare planning wise.
I just bump my £250 shed up the kerb! I live in a cul de sac and it still seemed like a nightmare planning wise.
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