crossing footpath to access driveway?

sajjed

hope I am posting in the correct section.
I have lived in my property for 32 year, in all that time I have accessed my driveway across the footpath, I have now received a letter from the council saying they are going to renew pavements and tarmac road and are asking me to pay to install a lowered kerb. the kerb is already low but not 'lowered'
just a little more information I live in a long road of semi detached houses that all have driveways, some have lowered kerbs some not but everyone accesses their driveways with vehicles.
before I contact local council has anyone if has any knowledge or been in my position I would appreciate any advice. thanks

jbainbridge

I'd call and ask why you need to pay for something you already do - although you do concede that you don't have a dropped kerb.

Assuming you'll get nowhere with that ... contact your councillor. He / she will hopefully agree that it does seem unfair given that they are doing the work anyway. This is more likely to get a result.

Good luck!

moneyistooshorttomention

Quite possibly the other owners have had a similar letter.

My thinking would be that I understand that other people aren't allowed to park in front of lowered kerbs. Certainly I had the initial thought of "Loads of room in so-and-so road for my visitors to park and nobody much seems to park there" and then I started counting all those lowered kerbs and there are loads of them in that road.

Hence it would appear that anyone who gains the benefit of a lowered kerb (ie keeping access clear to their drive) is in the process ensuring no-one else can park there. That being the case, then the Council is entitled to charge for the fact that other people can no longer park there.

WestonDave

It might be worth pointing out that a footway crossing (in theory) involves not just lowering the kerb but also strengthening the pavement to allow for vehicle weights rather than pedestrians (thereby protecting pipes etc under it). Unless the crossing has been formalised and a lowered kerb fitted technically you aren't allowed to drive across. There have been examples where particularly pedantic councils have fitted bollards in front of drives which don't comply - in one case blocking the cars on the drive!


So in this instance they probably have you over a barrel - although I'd hope if they are doing it all in one go it may be cheaper than the cost of doing it as a one off job.

tyllwyd

If the council are planning to renew the pavements, I assume they would build it to a standard suitable for pedestrians and if they replace the curb they will do it at a standard height. So if you carry on driving on it after that you will damage the new pavement. If you want a dropped curb, it seems reasonable to ask you to pay for the extra work that would be needed to build it properly.


(edited to say - cross-posted with the post above, but we are both saying pretty much the same thing)

moneyistooshorttomention

Good point.

The other thing here being that as pavement parking isn't allowed, then why would driving across pavements be allowed (unless they had been altered/strengthened to allow for that).

Newsflash = pavements are designed for pedestrians.

Tigsteroonie

My solicitor picked up on this during our recent house purchase. The house was being sold 'with driveway' and the sellers had been parking their car on their driveway for over 20 years - but there is no actual dropped kerb. I think both the sellers and their solicitor were surprised when advised.

Fortunately it wasn't an issue for us, as we had no intention of using the driveway - we'll be applying for a disabled bay instead

warmhands.coldheart

sajjed wrote: »

..... I have now received a letter from the council saying they are going to renew pavements and tarmac road and are asking me to pay to install a lowered kerb.

How much are we talking here? £100's, £1000's ????

peachyprice

WestonDave wrote: »

I'd hope if they are doing it all in one go it may be cheaper than the cost of doing it as a one off job.

My parents asked the council for a dropped kerb when they moved in to their house, council quoted £1500, they declined. 18 months later they go a similar letter as OP saying if they wanted the kerb done at the same time as the whole street pavement renewal it would be £400. Happy days.

PasturesNew

Everybody used to do this. My dad did it - most people had a lump of wood in the gutter to get up to kerb height. It's what people did.

But nowadays it's different and to access your driveway you need a dropped kerb. That's the way it is now. As they've started the process by asking you, I'd say "yes" and have it done. The reason for this is that you'll know it's done then and you can't have a future problem, e.g. if you ever want to sell the house. It'll be "job done and dusted, with all the legal paperwork ticked".

Pain in the butt as you've been OK for years, but that's the world. At least this way you're not having to think about it, then apply and wait (nervously) for a response at some future point.

Do it now while it's been "made easy" to apply.

sajjed

Not sure I understand your quote below why you say the council is entitled to charge for the fact people not being able to park near my house. I don't own the road or grass verge outside my house, Never have a problem with parking where I live


'Hence it would appear that anyone who gains the benefit of a lowered kerb (ie keeping access clear to their drive) is in the process ensuring no-one else can park there. That being the case, then the Council is entitled to charge for the fact that other people can no longer park there.[/QUOTE]