For lots of people, parking outside their own home can be both a reason for stress and come at a monetary cost if you need to buy a resident’s permit.
In particular urban regions, it can still be difficult to find a spot to leave your car near to home.
A dropped kerb is a legal necessity if you wish to drive over the pavement onto your 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 necessity to have a dropped kerb if you intend to drive across the pavement onto your property.
Installing a dropped kerb can make a significant improvement to easy access your property along with helping to make sure people do not park in front of 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 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 might be taken to stop such practice.
The pavement may require to be strengthened in front of the building, and sometimes, it may be essential for lampposts, manhole covers and various other street furniture to be relocated.
Drop Kerb Specialists in Newark-on-Trent
Dropped kerbs also referred to as vehicle access crossovers, are an adaptation to the footpath. It entails lowering the kerb and laying new foundations to the paving to enable a car to be driven onto the front area of a property.
The work involves lowering the kerbstones and bolstering the pavement to create a ramp, and must only be performed by an authorised company with Street Works Accreditation, and who have the required Public Liability insurance to fulfill the local authorities regulations.
Vehicle access cross overs comprise 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 many years experience in installing drop kerbs and making an application for the appropriate planning permission. We can work in conjunction with your local county council to install a dropped kerb while abiding by all essential regulations.
You can either apply to your local council for permission for a dropped kerb outside your building or we can apply to your local authority on your behalf.
We are members of the Streetworks Qualifications Register (SWQR). The SWQR holds information of qualified providers who have gained the proper qualifications in regard to the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, which is necessary for any contractor excavating a highway.
We focus on delivering a service that gets it right the first time. By buying high quality materials, equipment and processes, we make sure that we deliver sustainable 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 carried out to the highest quality standards.
Our staff can visit your site to perform a free no-obligation survey. This enables our surfacing contractors to fully understand your needs and provide an accurate and competitive quote.
Local Kerb Dropping Contractors
The massive growth in demand for off-street parking has seen more and more people drop kerbs to create car standing at the front of their properties.
Study by home insurer Direct Line shows that off-street parking is regarded by estate agents as a beneficial feature which adds value to a residential or commercial property. This, coupled with increasing 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 value to your property, there are many things to consider, not least environmental consequences, and flooding is a big problem.
When you replace a front garden with hard standing, rainwater can no longer soak into the ground. As more and more households take this action, the cumulative effect seriously 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 permit a car to cross the pavement. This is due to the fact that the pavement might need to be strengthened to take the weight of vehicles and help prevent them from damaging the surface or any pipes or cables beneath. It is also to ensure the new access will not be a safety risk to other highway users.
You can learn if you require 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 location.
If permission is granted, you then you need to find a local specialist to do the work for you.
It’s certainly 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, 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 might be an additional charge for highway inspections by the council.
Newark-on-Trent Vehicle Crossover Experts
However first it’s worth establishing if permission is likely to be given. Below is a list of points to consider. If any among these criteria is not met, planning permission is probably 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 area is in front of a door or garage.
- The parking area should be at least 2.4 m wide.
- The suggested access to your property should be more than 10m away from a road junction; 15m away from busy junctions or on major roads.
- It has to be at least 1.5 m away from street lights and various other street furniture.
- It must meet visibility standards; this depends on the type of road.
- Appropriate drainage must be provided to take the excess surface water.
The extraction of tree roots should be avoided. - The slope from your property to the road must not be too steep.
- Lastly, you as the property owner must agree to the kerb being dropped; for example, a renter can not apply on their landlord’s behalf.