Gated development planning permission

[Leahjs89]

Hi everyone

Quite a unique topic so not sure if there is anyone who can help but I’ll ask anyway.
We live on a new housing development (small 100 homes) and are looking into how we can get a gate out at the entrance to make it private. Who do you contact and do you need planning permission?

Essentially our development is beside a big event space which means we get a lot of trespassing, litter, drunk people, taxis etc and would really like to stop this happening.

TIA

Are the roads private or adopted? If the latter you can't, it's public, if the former then you would need planning permission which would require permission from all the residents plus measures in place for emergency access.

Lol, you want gates put on public roads to stop letting the public in. Maybe you should have bought a house on a private developement which is gated. The entitlement of some people!

Surely you knew the event space was there when you bought your property? You chose to buy in that location..

The road is private and access to the development is for the residents only. However that doesn’t stop people using it when it’s not open to the public.

Have a look in the covenants attached to the land too, to see if that assists.

The gates themselves would need PP.

Do you have a management company or similar - they would probably be the first people to speak to.

Start with the management company for the development. If one hasn't been set up yet then the developer is probably the place to start.

@Leahjs89 I live on a private road that has gates (they’ve been there 100+ years). One of our gates is kept open most of the time but we have looked into making them electric in the past. The best place to start is to ask your management company to speak to the highways department at your local council as they’ll be able to advise of the process. Things you’ll need to consider:

—there needs to be enough clearance space so at least one vehicle can wait at the gates without causing an obstruction on any public road (council may insist on it being lorry sized space)
-provision made for emergency services, refuse lorries etc
-where is the nearest electricity supply
-do you have a sinking fund to cover installation and ongoing maintenance?
-what will you do if you don’t get 100% agreement. In our street, there is a vocal minority that want electric gates but as treasurer I won’t compel anyone to pay for non-essential work, especially people that are strongly against it.
-what happens if a visitor / delivery person can’t get in? Most likely people will knock on the door of the nearest houses to the gates - they’ll soon get fed up.
-the gates aren’t attached to a property so unlikely to be insured. We’ve had gates smashed into, stolen etc so can be expensive to maintain.

Do you have clear signage stating that it’s a private estate? We do but the parents at the local school regularly ignore it (and the speed limit and one way signs).

@TattiePants this is super helpful!! And exactly the advice I was looking for - really appreciate it!
I wasn’t sure who I needed to contact first, the council, management company or a gate supplier. I will start with the management company.
We really just want it as a deterrent so even if they start with better signage and see how that goes would be better then nothing.
Thanks again!

@Leahjs89 we had a rough quote and it was about £20k to electrify the gates we already have at the entrance and fit one way road plates at the exit. It is really annoying, we’ve spent £60k+ Maintaining our roads in the last 10 years so the more non-residents drive on it, the quicker the surface will wear.

I Meant to add, speak to your mgt company first but there’s nothing stopping you then contacting the council and a gate supplier yourself.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I am going to call the management company tomorrow.