Council costs for dropped kerb

Sofie

I applied for a dropped kerb from the council and paid my £77.00. I've just received a partial quote of £2600 for BT to reinforce the part that houses a BT box on the ground (don't know what it's called). I still haven't received the quote for dropped kerb but imagine it will be £1000. So £3600 or more. Can I challenge this and if so how?

Edwood_Woodwood

How interesting.

How do BT manage with homes that already have dropped kerbs?

Owain_Moneysaver

Edwood_Woodwood wrote: »

How do BT manage with homes that already have dropped kerbs?

they don't position their underground chambers in the dropped kerb area, or if they have to they install ones strong enough to be driven over.

Owain_Moneysaver

Sofie wrote: »

I applied for a dropped kerb from the council and paid my £77.00. I've just received a partial quote of £2600 for BT to reinforce the part that houses a BT box on the ground (don't know what it's called). I still haven't received the quote for dropped kerb but imagine it will be £1000. So £3600 or more. Can I challenge this and if so how?

You don't have to use the council to actually drop the kerb, you can get any Street Works registered contractor in- although for a small job they're unlikely to be cheaper.

Depending on what work is needed to the BT chamber it might be cheaper to get whichever contractor BT Openreach are using for their streetworks to do the kerb for you as they'll already have a gang on site.

RichardD1970

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

You don't have to use the council to actually drop the kerb, you can get any Street Works registered contractor in- although for a small job they're unlikely to be cheaper.

Depending on what work is needed to the BT chamber it might be cheaper to get whichever contractor BT Openreach are using for their streetworks to do the kerb for you as they'll already have a gang on site.

Depends on the council. Pretty sure we can only use their approved contractor.

It costs a £50 administration fee which is no refundable even if approval isn't granted and costs £155 per square metre of tarmac laid (minimum £440) plus any additional cost for moving utilities, street furniture etc.

Sofie

I don't see why they have to do anything to the BT thing. If it needs strengthening, it just means that it's unstable now. You could drive an articulated lorry over it and it wouldn't budge. Interesting that you say I don't have to use the council to drop the kerb.

jellie

Sofie wrote: »

You could drive an articulated lorry over it and it wouldn't budge.

How do you know this?

Rolandtheroadie

Applied to the council for a dropped kerb recently. They don't do it any more, but gave me the details of 2 approved contractors.
I could use a different contractor, as long as they carried out the work to the councils spec.
Was looking for 9m dropped, to open up the whole front garden, and was quoted £2600.

force_ten

Sofie wrote: »

I don't see why they have to do anything to the BT thing. If it needs strengthening, it just means that it's unstable now. You could drive an articulated lorry over it and it wouldn't budge. Interesting that you say I don't have to use the council to drop the kerb.

how could you drop the kerbs without moving the BT joint box?

when you drop a kerb the pavement surface will be removed from the kerb to the boundary of the property the sub base will be dug out to a deeper depth to make the pavement strong enough to support a vehicle crossing the footpath

when the pavement is reinstated it will be lower than it is now so the joint box would also need to be dropped

also if it is on the pavement it will be a footway box and the lid will not be strong enough to support vehicle traffic so the frame of the box will need to be dropped and a reinforced lid will need to be fitted to make the box suitable to support vehicle traffic

I think the price quoted is quite a lot but will probably involve an openreach survey visit and then the openreach civils contractor will have to work in conjunction with the council or council contractors so the work is carried out at the same time as the council will want the work done ASAP so the footpath is closed for the minimum amount of time

Owain_Moneysaver

Sofie wrote: »

You could drive an articulated lorry over it and it wouldn't budge.

I've seen a fire engine drive over a BT footway box (quite a new one, too). The lid went 'crunch' and folded in half.

Sofie

Drivers have been parking over it for the past 18 years. Hasn't made any difference to it and definitely hasn't split in two.