Dropped kerb / Bollard outside would be drive

kinger101

You'd need permission from the council, as well as planning permission if it's a classified road. The council is unlikely to permit this if there is a safety issue (e.g. too close to junction), or there is existing street furniture there.

If the current bollard is a safety feature, it won't be removed. If it's to prevent access, this might be interpreted as an indication they don't want cars crossing the pavement at this point.

I think it would be foolish to proceed on assumption you'll be able to drop the kerb without making further queries. It doesn't look promising at the moment.

kinger101

Innys1 wrote: »

To be fair, the OP may have never dealt with this type of parasite previously in which case their naivety can be excused.

Actually, I believe that most EAs would simply say this requires permission from the council. This EA is treading a very dangerous line, and clearly cannot be trusted.

moneyistooshorttomention

eddddy wrote: »

The presence of a bollard suggests that there is a history of parking on pavements, or driving across the pavement to park - so the council put in the bollard to stop it.

It may be due to a general council policy; the garden is too small to meet council guidelines for a parking space; or a safety issue in that particular location.

The safety issue might be.. high number of pedestrians using the pavement, busy road (too dangerous to reverse on/off), too close to a junction etc.

I would have rather taken that bollard as translated into "Don't even ask - as the answer will be no" and that was my thinking there too.

Norman_Castle

I asked for a single and pointless bollard to be removed recently and the council refused without looking at it because it was within a certain distance from a school.

If a driveway is important check that it can be removed before buying.

gardenia101

I bought a house some years ago which had a drive & space for one large car that the previous owners had used as a drive for many years but it didn't have a dropped curb.

My EA said it would probably be OK to get it dropped as I wasn't on the corner, it was a quiet road & several other properties had had their curbs dropped. But he did tell me to check with the council. (Did I have the only honest EA in England? Possibly :rotfl:).

As this was the only minor niggle & I needed to move quickly, I bought the house & continued to use the drive. About a year later I got a quote for doing the work from the council & it was just over £1000. This was about 6 years ago, so I doubt its gone down, & this was just to drop the curb, not move a bollard too, so its pretty expensive.

Couldn't afford it then so I carried on using the drive until I stopped driving for health reasons.

About 6 months after I stopped driving the council announced they were resurfacing pavements in my area, so I asked about curbs. My neighbours had trashed their curbs by parking several large cars/vans in their front garden & along the pavement, so these were all going to be replaced too. I was lucky in that the council agreed that as they were having to replace the curb anyway, they'd drop my curb at the same time, since they could see I hadn't caused any of the damage. (My curbs were still rock solid as I'd always driven on & off them slowly & carefully).

Of course I don't actually benefit now as I don't drive, but DD will be learning in just over a year, so I'm very glad they were able to do it. The neighbours weren't allowed to have their curb dropped as they live on the corner & have a large spread of trees which block the view on one side. Of course they still use their drive, & their new'ish curbstones have again all been trashed

Maybe worth a quick question to your council to see if they're planning any repairs in the near future & whether they'll consider doing it at the same time? I was really lucky they covered the cost.