For many people, parking outside their own home can be both a reason for stress and come at a financial cost if you need to buy a resident’s permit.
In particular urban regions, it can still be tricky to find a spot to leave your car close to home.
A dropped kerb is a legal requirement if you wish to drive across the pavement onto your residential or commercial property.
Any entry onto a public highway from a residential 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 requirement to have a dropped kerb if you wish to drive across the pavement onto your property.
Installing a dropped kerb can make a significant improvement to accessing your property as well as helping to ensure people do not park across your driveway.
The law pertaining to dropped kerbs states: If you plan to drive a vehicle over the footway into your driveway off a highway, then you will need to have a dropped kerb.
If you do not have dropped kerb, you must not drive over the footway. If you do so, you are breaking the law and enforcement action may be taken to prevent such practice.
The pavement may need to be reinforced in front of the building, and sometimes, it may be necessary for lampposts, manhole covers and other street furniture to be moved.
Drop Kerb Specialists in Worksop
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 enable 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 solely be performed by an authorised company with Street Works Accreditation, and who have the required Public Liability insurance to fulfill the local authorities requirements.
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 appropriate 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 building or we are able to apply to your local authority on your behalf.
We are members of the Streetworks Qualifications Register (SWQR). The SWQR holds information of qualified operators who have gained the appropriate qualifications in relation to the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, which is essential for any provider excavating a highway.
We concentrate on delivering a product that gets it right the first time. By buying high quality components, equipment and processes, we ensure that we deliver lasting and cost effective solutions that will last.
We pride ourselves on our outstanding workmanship and customer care and we ensure that each and every job is carried out to the highest quality standards.
Our team can check out your site to perform a free no-obligation survey. This allows our surfacing contractors to fully understand your requirements and offer an accurate and competitive quote.
Local Kerb Dropping Contractors
The massive growth in interest for off-street parking has seen more and more people drop kerbs to establish car standing at the front of their homes.
Study by home insurer Direct Line shows that off-street parking is regarded by estate agents as a desirable feature which adds market value to a property. This, combined with escalating parking limitations in lots of residential locations, has resulted in planning applications for dropped kerbs increase massively over recent years.
However while adding car standing space to the front of your home can add market value to your property, there are numerous things to consider, not least environmental consequences, and flooding is a major issue.
When you replace a front garden with hard standing, rain can no longer soak into the ground. As increasingly more households take this step, the cumulative effect severely increases the threat of flooding, so it’s essential to include drainage in your plans.
Planning permission is usually called for if you wish to drop the kerb outside your building to allow a car to cross the pavement. This is because the pavement may need to be reinforced to take the weight of motor vehicles and prevent them from damaging the surface or any water pipes or cables beneath. It is also to ensure the new access will not be a safety hazard to other highway users.
You can learn if you need planning permission by getting in touch with your local council (you can find the relevant council at the government website). How much it costs to apply will depend upon your location.
If permission is approved, you then you need to locate a local contractor to perform the work for you.
It’s definitely not a DIY job as the council will have requirements that service providers must meet. Several will only permit you to use their approved contractors, while others make it possible for you to use your own, so long as they are accredited to the requirements of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, and hold public liability insurance. In this case, there may be an additional charge for highway assessments by the council.
Worksop Vehicle Crossover Experts
However first it’s worth establishing if consent 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 turned down:
- Your front garden must be large enough for you to park your vehicle entirely on your property.
- The kerb must be at least 4.8 m from the front of your house; or 6m if the parking spot is in front of an entrance or garage.
- The parking area must be at least 2.4 m wide.
- The suggested 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 lamps and other street furniture.
- It must meet visibility guidelines; this depends upon the type of road.
- Suitable drainage must be provided to remove the excess surface water.
The removal of tree roots must be avoided. - The slope from your home to the road must not be too steep.
- Finally, you as the homeowner must agree to the kerb being dropped; for example, a tenant can not apply on their landlord’s behalf.