For many people, parking outside their own house can be both a cause of stress and come at a financial cost if you need to pay for a resident’s permit.
In particular urban areas, it can continue to be tricky to find a place to leave your car close to home.
A dropped kerb is a legal necessity if you want to drive across the pavement onto your property.
Any access onto a public highway from a domestic or commercial driveway area should have a dropped kerb.
A dropped kerb enables vehicles to cross the pavement from the road to a driveway and it is a legal necessity to have a dropped kerb if you want to drive across the pavement onto your property.
Installing a dropped kerb can make a huge improvement to easy access your property along with helping to make sure people do not park in front of your driveway.
The law regarding dropped kerbs states: If you intend to drive a vehicle over the footway in to your driveway off a highway, then you will need a dropped kerb.
If you do not have dropped kerb, you must never drive over the footway. If you do this, you are breaking the law and enforcement action could be taken to stop such practice.
The pavement may need to be reinforced in front of the property, and in some cases, it may be necessary for lampposts, manhole covers and various other street furniture to be relocated.
Drop Kerb Specialists in Newark-on-Trent
Dropped kerbs also called vehicle access crossovers, are an adaptation to the footpath. It involves lowering the kerb and preparing new foundations to the paving to make it possible for a car to be driven onto the front area of a property.
The work includes lowering the kerbstones and bolstering the pavement to create a ramp, and must only be performed by an authorised provider with Street Works Accreditation, and who have the necessary Public Liability insurance to fulfill the local authorities regulations.
Vehicle access cross overs consist normally of 3 or 4 dropped kerbs with a tapered or transition kerb on either side. The standard maximum total width at road level of dropped kerbs for a VAC is 3.6 metres (i.e. normally 4 dropped kerbs).
We have several years experience in installing drop kerbs and applying for the relevant planning permission. We are able to work in conjunction with your local county council to install a dropped kerb whilst complying with all necessary regulations.
You can either apply to your local council for permission for a dropped kerb outside your property or we are able to apply to your local authority in your place.
We are members of the Streetworks Qualifications Register (SWQR). The SWQR holds details of qualified providers who have gained the appropriate qualifications in relation to the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, which is essential for any contractor excavating a highway.
We concentrate on delivering a product that gets it right the first time. By investing in high quality materials, equipment and processes, we make sure that we deliver lasting and cost effective solutions that will last.
We pride ourselves on our exceptional workmanship and customer care and we make sure that every job is performed to the highest quality standards.
Our team can check out your site to carry out a free no-obligation survey. This allows our surfacing contractors to completely understand your needs and provide an accurate and competitive quote.
Local Kerb Dropping Contractors
The huge growth in interest for off-street parking has seen a growing number of people drop kerbs to create car standing at the front of their homes.
Research by home insurer Direct Line shows that off-street parking is regarded by estate agents as a desirable feature which adds value to a residential or commercial property. This, coupled with increasing parking limitations in lots of residential areas, has brought about planning applications for dropped kerbs increase massively over recent years.
But while adding car standing space to the front of your home might add value to your property, there are many things to think about, not least environmental issues, and flooding is a major problem.
When you switch out a front garden with hard standing, rain can no longer absorb into the ground. As increasingly more households take this step, the cumulative effect seriously increases the threat of flooding, so it’s important to include drainage in your plans.
Planning permission is normally needed if you wish to drop the kerb outside your property to enable a car to cross the pavement. This is due to the fact that the pavement may need to be reinforced to take the weight of vehicles and help prevent them from damaging the surface or any water pipes or cables beneath. It is also to ensure the new access will never be a safety hazard to other highway users.
You can find out if you need planning permission by contacting your local council (you can find the relevant council at the government website). How much it costs to apply will be dependent on your specific location.
If permission is given, you then you need to locate a local specialist to perform the work for you.
It’s certainly not a DIY job as the council will have requirements that service providers must meet. Some will only allow you to use their endorsed contractors, while others allow you to use your own, just as long as they are accredited to the requirements of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, and carry public liability insurance. For this case, there may be an additional charge for highway inspections by the council.
Newark-on-Trent Vehicle Crossover Experts
But first it’s worth establishing if permission is likely to be given. Below is a list of considerations. If any among these criteria is not really met, planning permission is very likely to be denied:
- Your front garden must be large enough for you to park your vehicle entirely on your property.
- The kerb must be at minimum 4.8 m from the front of your house; or 6m if the parking area is in front of a door or garage.
- The parking area must be at least 2.4 m wide.
- The proposed access to your property must be more than 10m away from a road junction; 15m away from busy junctions or on primary roads.
- It must be at least 1.5 m away from street lights and various other street furniture.
- It must meet visibility guidelines; this depends on the type of road.
- Suitable drainage must be provided to remove the surplus surface water.
The removal of tree roots must be avoided. - The incline from your property to the road must not be too steep.
- Finally, you as the homeowner must agree to the kerb being dropped; for instance, a tenant can not apply on their landlord’s behalf.