Application to drop the kerb
Comments
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What was the review? Do you have a copy of it or know where it is online? It may have simply been guidance from the government that devolved responsibility to individual councils as long as broad principles were kept. You've used the word "guidelines" yourself. Guidelines are just that: a guide. If central government imposed consistent rules on every council, they would be national rules rather than guidelines.Sure, but how is it that different councils have different dimensions if there was a review conducted by the government in 2007?
I would have thought there would be some consistency between guidelines set by the government and all the councils which implement these guidelines?
I suspect that your council have adopted their own policy which is in keeping with government guidelines and which they consider is appropriate for their area, knowing the housing/street mix and layout. They would have settled on the measurements quoted for a reason, not just arbitrarily.0 -
Just to give everyone an update, after giving examples of other councils with more relaxed rules as long as owner+council enter into a formal agreement (Short Frontage agreement) in the form of a land charge, the council has decided to put this forward for the Cabinet member responsible for parking and highways.
The meeting will be held at the end of the month.
Could be a breakthrough, could be not.
I will keep you all posted.0 -
If that doesn't work out .... how'd your house look without the bay window?0
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I've thought about that, getting rid of the bay window, and reducing my living room length by 60cm...
It would allow me to drop the kerb as per the current guidelines.
But in my opinion, that's too desperate in my opinion and will make the house look significantly different. Mind you there are a couple of houses on the street without bay windows that don't look too odd, but I think it will decrease the house value as it will make it look different from the rest on the terrace(terrace of 4 houses).
Besides, I don't even know if I'd need planning permission to alter the front of the house...0 -
Just to give everyone an update, after giving examples of other councils with more relaxed rules as long as owner+council enter into a formal agreement (Short Frontage agreement) in the form of a land charge, the council has decided to put this forward for the Cabinet member responsible for parking and highways.
You might be lucky, but some councils who adopted the short frontage agreement approach have had problems with it. Also bear in mind you will almost certainly have to pay the substantial costs of getting the agreement made, and it will be something future purchasers of your property may find off-putting.
Addressing some of your other points -
I suspect the 2007 'guidlines' you refer to releate to the change in building regulations regarding impermeable surfaces. This was as a result of several flooding incidents in which people paving over their front gardens for parking was blamed for making the flooding worse. There are guidelines about minimising the percentage of the front garden which is paved over, but as far as I know this did not introduce a minimum depth of frontage (bay length). Many councils reviewed their dropped kerb parking policies around that time in order to address the impermeable paving issue.
Council's tend to fall into two camps when it comes to CPZ's. Some like to provide the maximum restrictions possible because it generates maximum revenue and keeps things simple. Others will only restrict as necessary to minimise the adverse impact on residents. 'One-hour' or 'Two-hour' zones are normally used where the parking problem is commuters using a local station on weekdays. 'All day' zones are normally used where there are town-centre type facilities which attract shoppers all day long, and sometimes near stations and other sites where evening or weekend travelling/parking is likely.
For residents the advantage of 'hour' zones is that visitors and tradesmen can park for free outside of the restricted hours, whilst commuters and workers are excluded.
Whether or not you will get the council to extend the CPZ hours will depend on the type of parking problem (the 'attractor') and whether other people in the CPZ also feel it should be extended. If the parking problem is worst at the weekends (especially Saturdays) then it implies that the parking is either by residents or by people using a local station to travel to a town centre or 'event' destination. If there is no town centre, station, or busy bus route nearby then it will be resident parking - in which case extending the CPZ hours will be a waste of time."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
After two months of long discussions with my councillor and her 'representing' my views during a cabinet meeting, it was decided that there would be no change in policy to introduce the Short Frontage Agreement in my council.
I then raised this as a complaint because I genuinely felt I was not represented fairly (the emails from my councillor were cold and she clearly stated that she does not support my views).
I got a reply regarding my complaint about a week or two ago and the conclusion was that my views were represented and that there will be no change in policy to introduce the Short Frontage Agreement despite the fact that other local authorities have implemented this.
I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to drop the kerb, unless obviously done illegally which will probably raise suspicion given that my address has been on the 'spotlight' in the council about this recently. Also that's an avenue I'm not willing to go into for many reasons.
Parking is really not an issue during the day. It just is really bad at night time (probably after 8pm) on weekdays and weekends and that's when all residents have returned back home I guess.
So unless you enforce a CPZ that is from 7am to midnight (which is probably impossible unless you live in Covent Garden in London or something) then a longer restriction won't be of much help in my opinion. (e.g between 9am to 630pm).
So till I move house (not for a few years I guess as I only bought 2 years ago) I will just have to bit the bullet and park on the street. There is one advantage to parking on the street (if it's always within a few meters from your house)....and that's potential thieves not knowing which car belongs to which house.
It's a shame, because if the previous owners had done this prior to 2007, I would now have a space for the car (parked diagonally it fits perfectly fine).
And it angers me when I walk in the neighbourhood with my dog and I see similarly sized front gardens with dropped kerbs and a yellow line on the road that others cannot park.. Anyway...I have not gotten over it..but there's not much I can do at this stage. There is a unused garage next to my front garden (with a dropped kerb & yellow line) and I have tried endlessly to approach the owner to sell it to me (who does not live in the house, he rents it) but I haven't been able to get through to him. Presumably he's ignoring me because he doesn't want to sell it.0 -
Haringey Council.
Funnily enough, I live just less than half a mile away from the boundary to Enfield, and Enfield will allow you to drop the kerb when your front garden depth is just 3.5metres.Imagine the contrast!0 -
Haringey Council.
Funnily enough, I live just less than half a mile away from the boundary to Enfield, and Enfield will allow you to drop the kerb when your front garden depth is just 3.5metres.Imagine the contrast!
the problem is enforcement.
a Ford fiesta is 4.1m long
a Ford Focus is 4.5m long
a Volkswagen Golf is 4.4m long
a Nissan Qashqai is 4.4m long
a Vauxhall Corsa is 4.1m long
a Vauxhall Astra is 4.4m long
a Volkswagen Polo is 4.0m long
a Mercedes-Benz C-Class is 4.6m long
a Mini is 4.0m long
a Mercedes-Benz A-Class is 4.3m long
these are the 1-10 most popular new cars in the UK and not a single one of them would fit into a 3.5m space, which means the council would have to be proactive in enforcing the Short Frontage Agreement, potentially with court action, which costs a fortune, and in current cash strapped times, is something they would rather avoid completely hence requiring spaces that fit modern cars.0 -
What's unfair about it?Prashant428 wrote: »that's not fair at all. Anyways which council was it if you don't mind. Mine is Harrow and I was planning to take the same route as yours.0
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