Dropped kerb

[crochetandchai]

Hi,
First time poster here looking for some advice.
We recently put in an application for a single sized dropped kerb, however, we've just been told by the council that their highway guy measured and our driveway is wider than we submitted so we have to pay over £500 more for them to drop more of the kerb (taking the cost to over £2k).
Granted, 75% of the front space of our house is open to the pavement (and we could potentially park 2 or 3 cars on this space) and this is the measurement he's taken, but we aren't going to use the whole kerb to access the drive, just the single sized drop we asked for.
I'm frustrated because they've made a lot of assumptions about the use of the space outside the front of our house, with no discussion with us. I know that some councils ask for diagrams with applications, but ours doesn't.

So my question is, is there any law or legislation that allows the council to dictate how wide our dropped kerb should be?

Thank you if you managed to get to the end of this post!

Well it’s the council curb so I guess they decide what if anything get done to it.
Still, go with the widest drop curb you can get away with. well worth an extra £500 for a full with dropped curb, you don’t want parked cars blocking part of your driveway.

Yeah, I'd be well in for getting a full width dropped kerb for only 25% more. Totally worth it.

If you think otherwise, reply to them with a diagram. They're not robots, they're capable of working this out if you tell them.

I see what you're saying and would be fine with this if we weren't having to pay for something we won't use.
It's interesting you should say that about parked cars, as one of the reasons I didn't want a long kerb drop was so I didn't take too much on street parking away from people around here as parking is quite bad. Hadn't thought about the potential drive blockers though...

Sorry also meant to say thank you for your reply :)

That's a good idea, thank you. We only have a customer service email address but I'm sure they'd forward it on to the relevant people.
Yes, the person I've spoken to was really nice (he knocked on to let me know he was there) but that frustrated me as he could have asked me questions then if he was querying the measurements we gave :/

The cheapest solution is a section of wood whatever length you like against the curb to form a small ramp.

I don't think that's legal. You are not allowed to drive over the pavement if there's not a dropped curve and you can't just leave a large piece of wood in the street. If my neighbours did that I would be upset as, apart from anything else, you are giving any potential passing burglars and vandals a handy tool to break into your house!

For some unknown reason ( possibly known by the neighbours but never shared with us, think it may be a touchy subject, no idea why!) our house, which is an infill, doesn't have a dropped kerb. We asked the council and it would have been at least what you mentioned so we just use the heavy caravan ramps made of rubber. It's a very quiet street so not worried about them being nicked, also they weigh a ton.

We had a single car size dropped curb in A busy parking area, other cars would park with their wheel up to the edge of the white line on the road, so front bumper overhanging, it was often a real squeeze to get out and sometimes impossible to get in.

Definitely not legal to cross a section of the pavement that hasn't been dropped, we won't use the drive until we have a dropped kerb. Not only cos driving over the pavement ruins it (as can be seen on our pavement due to the family before us using the drive without a dropped kerb), but also because we have a lot of nosey neighbours who would shop us the second we did .
But my point is that surely if they put a single dropped kerb in as we've asked for then that's up to us to only use that section to access the drive? Can they force us to pay more to drop more on the off chance that we did use non-dropped pavement for access?

See what it says on their website? I think you need to give them a call or send an email.

There are rules on the size needed for vision for access to a highway

It’s not really safe to have a narrow access between parked cars. The wider access gives you better vision. It also means cars coming down the road before you pull out from between parked cars. Just pay up and be pleased the council has agreed to it and understands about road safety and design to keep pedestrians and other road users as safe as possible.

cars coming down the road see you before you pull out...,

I don't think they can go by your word that you wouldn't use the full width as this change to the kerb will persist after you sell up in a few years and the next owners may have a different attitude. You could build a wall or fence across the section of driveway where you don't want the kerb dropped but I suspect that might cost more than £500.

Thank you for your replies, we have decided to pay for the rest of the kerb to be dropped - I think our issue was that it wasn't explained well on the website so it was unexpected that we then had to find an extra £500, which yes isn't a lot in the long run but at this moment in time feels like a huge amount. Also, rather than explain the process in their email, we were just told we had given the wrong details and we had to cough up £500 asap. It felt very patronising and immediately rubbed us up the wrong way, but after a chance to calm down we recognise it's for the best, even if it means we're now a bit short this month 🙈 but once it's paid for and done, it's done and I can stop worrying and use my lovely new drive 😊

Thanks again