Driveway - council permission

[Drivewaydreams]

Hi, we have come across a property we like but it doesn’t have a driveway. My guess is it’s because on the utilities in front of the property. Anyone know if the council are likely to drop the kerb and make it a proper driveway? Thoughts would be appreciated thank you.

@BrieAndChilli honestly it’s not that bad but after spending £600k on a purchase I would need a proper front driveway. Maybe if I was spending less I may be able to get over that. It’s just the fact of coming in through the garden to the house or having to go around the house to get in.. in the long run it would annoy me.

@cujo you are right.. it is a deal breaker.. we won’t be going ahead with the purchase. Thank you for your help

I came across your post while searching for an answer to exactly the same question. I have found my dream property. It's on a B road so not quiet, but not overly busy either. It's on double yellow lines, and other properties on the road have dropped kerbs. The council say they can't tell me anything about whether they would approve the application or not. Only homeowners can make an application. It's a catch 22 situation. Did you ever find out if you could get the drop kerb in the end?

@HummingbirdSong hiya, unfortunately we didn’t go with the purchase. It was a deal breaker for us. Council refused to confirm but we figured it would be a no as the owners would have probably tried to apply for dropped kerb previously. I mean who wouldn’t? The parking was such an inconvenience. I mean if it isn’t a dealbreaker for you then maybe take a chance?

It's a deal breaker for me :( The council won't confirm either, and the owner has never applied for a dropped kerb because he's always rented out the house since he bought it 15+ years ago. The council said, it's "possible" and mentioned a few reasons why it could be approved.... but then ended the sentence with "but it could still get rejected". It's silly that they don't have a pre-application assessment system in one way or another. I'm going to do a little more research this week, and if it's still inconclusive, I'll have to let that gorgeous, perfect house go :(

@HummingbirdSong you can make an application even if you don't own the site. The only difference is that you need to serve notice on the actual owner. When you get plans drawn up your architect /planning consultant would be able to help with that.

You're completely right! I found this out this morning. However, I realised that the length of the drive is smaller than the minimum requirement and was told that it was pretty much a given that any application would be rejected based on this. Not only that, an appeal would also be rejected unless there were special needs such as a disability. It goes to show that just because others have a dropped kerb or a conservatory, it doesn't mean everyone is going to get permission. Most things were done historically and the law has changed so much since then. Anyway, the lack of a dropped kerb and the guarantee of never being granted one is a deal breaker, so my house hunting continues.