dropped kerb?

[citybranch]

Hi,
We moved in 2 months ago and the front garden is an overgrown mess, we're having it paved over this week. I know that we need to get permission for a dropped kerb. The kerb in front of our garden is really low anyway, barely a kerb at all! DH wants to just drive the car on and not incur all the costs involved, he says there is no way anyone would make a fuss as the kerb looks as though it has already been dropped. But is this a bit risky & what would happen to us if we didn't get the approval?

We had a something similar with our house. When we bought the house it had a paved driveway and gates at the end but no dropped kerb. We have a pavement and a grassed verge between us and the road but the area between the road and the drive was tarmac. ie no grass verge. We enquired with the council about having the kerb dropped and were told that we would need to apply for planning permission and the cost was in the £100s which at the time (15/20 years ago) we couldn't afford. So we just drove over the kerb anyway as did the majority of our neighbours. Nothing was ever said.
Eventually they were relaying the road and the pavement and we were offered the opportunity to apply for joint planning with all our neighbours which cost us about £60. The dropped kerbs were then put in by the people laying the road and pavements at no extra cost to us as they were replacing the kerbstones anyway.

well that worked out pretty well for you! Because we are so new here we haven't met all the neighbours yet, but i do suspect the neighbours next door are driving over their kerb too (looks the same as ours). I guess I'm just worrying that someone will know we don't have permission and complain.

To add I suspect that so long as none of your neighbours complained nothing would be said. This was certainly the case with us probably because most of our neighbours were doing the same thing.
You could always plead ignorance and then perhaps the worst they would maybe say is not to do it again!!

Some points to consider:

Without having a dropped kerb, you have no right of way over the pavement. Your access in or out of the driveway could be blocked by someone else parking there and you would have no legal way of getting them to move.

If there is any damage to the pavement you are driving over, or any pipes (gas, electricity, water, sewage) that may run underneath, you will be liable for any repairs that are necessary.

Check your Local Authority's website for more information.

Hope this helps .

there is a family on our road that does this - parking is already tight and it prevents a car from parking there - pisses a lot of people off as stinkyfeet (!) said they have no right to do so.

It is an offence under the Highways Act to drive over a pavement without the permission of the highways authority (which comes in the form of them reinforcing the pavement and providing a dropped kerb).

I'm not sure of what action they could take (but is definitely enforceable), but if complaints are made they would be quite likely to put bollards on the pavement to prevent access in a car (and then if you subsequently applied for permission they would no doubt charge you for their removal as well as the works to the pavement).

Also, they can refer the matter to the planning department who might require you to reinstate a front boundary wall or fence enclosure at the front. Where I've seen permission (as in planning permission, if that's what is required) refused, the enforcement action has required that that happen within a certain timescale. And sometimes bollards have been installed as well for good measure.

Not all dropped kerbs (or rather the concept of access over the pavement) need planning permission. Is usually only when is a classified, busy road. But permission is always required from the highways authority. They will have minimum standards regarding the dimensions of the front parking area so that cars parked wouldn't overhang the footpath. If planning permission is required it is more tricky as they generally want to ensure that you don't have to undertake multiple forward/reversing movements to manoeuvre onto the space, and also if is a busy road, they might require a turning circle.

Pooka, What would happen if the pavement and road aren't actually owned by the council and you can't find out who owns the road and pavement? Would you still have to apply for planning permission?

sorry to hijack.

Blimey! NOt sure really. I expect that if it is a private road and isn't maintained by the highways people, it would be necessary to try and find out the ownership of the road/pavement. Maybe via the land registry? Or the deeds of the houses fronting the street (may be something hidden away there).

You've stumped me there! I do know of a local estate (1920s super-luxe) that is owned by a company that comprises all the owners of the houses in the estate. When they want to build extensions they not only have to get the planning permission from the council (complicated because is a conservation area) but they also have to get permission (and pay some money) from the management company. Those streets are all owned privately and maintained by the community of householders and not the Council. The same applies there to accesses and dropped kerbs. Generally it seems (round ehre at least) that classified, major roads aren't those that are in private ownership.

From what I can tell most houses don't need planning permission for accesses, just the highways approval (and payment to the highways department). We would need planning permission here because our road is described in the local plan as being a classified road - it carries a lot of through traffic from 1 major A road to another and so is known as a local distributor road. And I'm pretty certain that we wouldn't get permission because the garden isn't quite deep enough. PLus we have a lamppost outside, and we'd have to pay for it to be resited.

Anyway - your best bet would be to contact the highways department at the local Council and ask whether they would need to approve you having a dropped kerb privately installed in the private road, or whether that would be something that you would have to take up with the road owners (obviously you're still left with the problem of finding out who they are). On Council maintained roads, our local Council make you use their contractors - you cannot get private firms in to do it (a way of them generating additional income and, more usefully, making sure that the work is sufficiently professional to prevent slabs cracking and deterioration of the pavement).

Thanks Pooka, I believe various neighbours' solicitors have tried to find the owners of the road and pavements in the past but have been unable to. It's a cul-de-sac and some of the houses are privately bought and others are owned by a Housing Association. The HA only bought the houses not the road or pavements and the council is not responsible for them either as they are classed as private but nobody knows who does actually own them, land registry were no help either apparently.

Thanks again