Chances of being allowed to modify the kerb to help with your parking?

JustAnotherSaver

We're looking at houses & unfortunately most of them only have a drive for 1 car. We're ideally wanting one for two cars, or a garage & drive - something to have both cars off the road basically.

I can't post links as i'm new, so that's no good, but if you want i can give you the road name to search on google maps for one prime example.

Anyway, the chances of being allowed to drop the kerb and knock your wall down at the end of the drive to enable room for another car to park in front of your house, off the road.

Are the chances for this sort of thing going to be slim? How would you find out?



Also, that allocated parking lark. How do people get on there? Many families have two cars. We certainly do (& before it's mentioned, the bus isn't really an option). If a house has one allocated spot, how is the other person supposed to get on? Park 2 mile down the road?! I suppose the obvious one is - just don't buy a house with allocated parking.

highguyuk

You need to apply to your local council for a dropped kerb, but it is 100% achieve able.

Just a note, but you will obviously need to pay the council to do the work, you can't alter their asset. This will be a few hundred. Presumably the wall is your own property to do as you please.

sew_what

In some areas you need Planning Permission to extend your drive, you'll have to speak to the planning dept about that, and you'll need to speak to Highways at the council about extending your dropped kerb, some areas have you use an approved contractor, some councils do it themselves.

phoebe1989seb

Last year we were selling my parents' 1920s semi on the South Coast and had accepted an offer from a buyer who apparently consulted the local council on the likelihood of gaining permission to drop the kerb. The house already a garage and shared driveway btw.

Days later the buyer pulled out on the grounds that the council had said approval for a dropped kerb would not be granted - although how true this was I don't know, as a couple of other houses in the road had dropped kerbs put in a few years back.........maybe it was just an excuse to withdraw from the purchase

6feet

highguyuk wrote: »

You need to apply to your local council for a dropped kerb, but it is 100% achieve able.

Just a note, but you will obviously need to pay the council to do the work, you can't alter their asset. This will be a few hundred. Presumably the wall is your own property to do as you please.

And the rest!!! we paid a grand 7 years ago to extend our drop curb only 3 feet!!

I hear it has gone up even more in price now...we are within the M25.....

Dan-Dan

My mate paid South Beds council (as it was then) £250 to drop a kerb for access to a single car drive , that was in 2001....

Has anyone else noticed that loads of people these days just create driveways for their houses and dont tend to bother if their is a dropped kerb there or not?? i have seen it loads where we are

Surbybird

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Last year we were selling my parents' 1920s semi on the South Coast and had accepted an offer from a buyer who apparently consulted the local council on the likelihood of gaining permission to drop the kerb. The house already a garage and shared driveway btw.

Days later the buyer pulled out on the grounds that the council had said approval for a dropped kerb would not be granted - although how true this was I don't know, as a couple of other houses in the road had dropped kerbs put in a few years back.........maybe it was just an excuse to withdraw from the purchase

Depending on where it was, it's quite likely to be true.

Our local council now won't give permission for a dropped kerb unless you have sufficient space to drive onto your property in a straight line. There has to be a minimum depth of garden/drive (19ft, I seem to recall) between the house and the boundary.

I know that because I applied to have the kerb dropped outside my house but it was refused on the basis that I'd have to parallel park on the drive as there's insufficient depth for me to drive on (only about 12 ft). The house across the road had their front garden turned into a drive, then applied to have the kerb dropped and it was refused on the same basis.

They used to give permission for dropped kerbs where you'd have to parallel park on your drive but stopped it a few years ago, apparently.

K

dotdash79

Depends on how bad the parking is in the area where you are looking. It's worth giving the council a call to see about the price and when they will say yes or no.

tim123456789

sew_what wrote: »

In some areas you need Planning Permission to extend your drive, you'll have to speak to the planning dept about that, and you'll need to speak to Highways at the council about extending your dropped kerb, some areas have you use an approved contractor, some councils do it themselves.

In all areas you now need PP to pave over your (front) garden to make a parking space, unless you do it using permeable material (which I guess is more expensive and/or looks ugly otherwise it wouldn't be an issue)

tim

phoebe1989seb

Surbybird wrote: »

Depending on where it was, it's quite likely to be true.

Our local council now won't give permission for a dropped kerb unless you have sufficient space to drive onto your property in a straight line. There has to be a minimum depth of garden/drive (19ft, I seem to recall) between the house and the boundary.

I know that because I applied to have the kerb dropped outside my house but it was refused on the basis that I'd have to parallel park on the drive as there's insufficient depth for me to drive on (only about 12 ft). The house across the road had their front garden turned into a drive, then applied to have the kerb dropped and it was refused on the same basis.

They used to give permission for dropped kerbs where you'd have to parallel park on your drive but stopped it a few years ago, apparently.

K

Thanks for this Surbybird - it was in Southsea, Hants and I would hazard a guess that the front garden depth was around 15'...........

dryhat

Look for any council workers/contractors working on roads nearby.

Drop them a twenty and they'll drop your kerb. Job done.

Cheaper and simpler than going through planning and dealing with the arseh0les at the council.