I've been thinking for a while now about making a driveway in the front garden. Does anyone know what the script is with having the kerb lowered?
Spoke to roads planning dep at local council and they said they would have to send someone out to have a look, that was 6 weeks ago and still nobody has shown!
The thing is, the kerb is already sunk a fair bit from its original height so i reckon i could get away with just driving over it (about 2/3 inch in high)
Is this allowed or could they come at a later date and blame me for the kerb sinking?

 

i spoke to the local council about mine they sent somone round to have alook and work out the cost to do it, (us having to pay) they quoted me £630 to remove 4 curb stones.
so without further adoo there is now a wooden ramp againt the curb
£630.....in the name of jim royle MY AR*E!!

 

Thats my plan, i was just worried they might come along and say i have fecked the pavement by driving over it.

 

i drive over mine everyday,had no problems

 

I got mine done for about £800

 

Yes the councils do overcharge for it to be done its a couple of hundred quid job at most but thats councils for you, try to find out if they will be doing and pavement or road surfacing on your street in the near future as you can have it done possible them for free as they will rip everything up anyway.

Also I would be careful about driving up over the pavement without an official dropped kerb especially as you have already asked the question as it is an offence to drive over the pavement without one, although I am not sure what they do to you..

 

if you get consent get it in writing, we got permission for a previous property and one **** of a neighbour across the road complained as he was jealous (even though he had a drive his house cost him more ) the council sent us a letter telling us we had to remove the parking space, so we sent them back a copy of the letter of THEIR consent. never heard anymore from them funnily enough.

still can't understand the neighbour complaining in the first place surely a car on our front garden was one less parked outside his house. talk about biting your nose to spite your face.

 

Sounds like you'll need to chase up the local highways dept. again as it looks like they've overlooked your request.
If you can, make an appointment to see the Council officer so you can explain what parking arrangements you had in mind for your front garden. Normally we base vehicle crossovers on a minimum of 4 drop kerbs, but you can request more. Unless you're on an A road or within 15m of a junction you shouldn't have a problem (you may need planning for an a road - depends on whether your neighbours have accesses, how many, whether a precedent has been set etc.). Also a minimum 2x2m visibility splay should be required.
Cost could be anywhere between about £750 and £1500 depending on the work needed.
The drop kerbs should be put in with a 25mm upstand to be a formal access.
If you do create the access without the the crossover work being done, just be aware that if you damage the footway then the Council could recharge you the costs for any repairs needed. Its unlikely that any enforcement action would be taken to stop the access unless it seriously affected safety for drivers on the road you're accessing from. Hope this helps

 

You can't get it done for free, it costs about 60 quid... Into the back pocket of one of the workers.
Doesn't have to be council either. gas, cable, electricity.

My mum has done it at both of her previous addresses without any repercussions.

 

I had a quote for £790 for mine.

I bought a carbon footprint increasing 4x4, and drive over it instead.

 

Did ours for free when they were resurfacing the whole pavement

 

Few people round here been done for driving over the pavement.

Few months agothey re did all the pavements and driveways, people who previously had a ramp got theirs doen for free. But those who had just knocked their wall down and were driving over the curb got charged.

Think they must have finished doing it in nov. They are now coming around ripping it all up this month too re do the gas mains.

 

We used to drive over the pavement onto our garden, until we got a summons from the council for driving a vehicle across the pavement. As said already this is an offence. When you pay for the council approved installer to carryout the work, the fee also includes purchasing the right to drive over the pavement.

 

Use a sledgehammer on the kerb then report the broken kerb to the council - oh and by the way, could you drop it while you're repairing it?

 

Wooden ramp as suggested is the cheap answer, thats what I would do until someone told me to stop.

Les

 

We did this in November with South Glos Council

We completed a drop curb application form (found on their website) and sent £30. They sent back sayingYes subject to a couple of things like, checking we were not too close to a junction/traffic lights and a couple of other things, nothing applied to us, so that was ok.

A man from the council came and had a look, he said we have to take up 8 curb stones, goes the whole width of our property and that was it.

We found a builder who dropped the curb and ripped the garden apart, laid some bricks, job done within 5 days (not that they were on site all of that time).

We were told that it is approx. £100 per curb stone to drop

Tracey

 

Ours cost £500...15 years ago! Whats that in todays money??

That was 3 curbstones to widen an existing drive. and they were going to re-surface the pavement anyway -after the mess made from new water mains being installed .

 

Quality.

You could always make some chocks up for the kerb.

"Chocks Away"