Application to drop the kerb

kkudi

I just bought a car and I find it extremely hard to park on my road, despite the existence of a CPZ. The problem is particularly prevalent on weekends, especially on Saturdays. The CPZ is only enforceable Mon-Fri 10am-12pm.

Now onto my question...

My front garden is big enough to accommodate a medium sized car. Its dimensions are 5m wide and 4.4 metres long from the back of the pavement to my bay windows, and 4.90m from the back of the pavement to the beginning of the first line boundary. I'm attaching a diagram to help illustrate the front garden area with dimensions. It's on imgur with id kU2FI (sorry cannot post links)


Now, on the street I live, there's about a dozen houses with dropped kerbs/off-street with very similar front garden dimensions. There's even a couple of houses whereby the length is even smaller than 4m and they have dropped kerbs with yellow lines painted on the road. They have to park the car diagonally otherwise it would overflow by more than a foot!

I have been over to the council website and it clearly states "The minimum depth from the back of the footway to your building line must be 4.80 metres".

I tick all other boxes except this one. There are no street lights, there are no trees, no street furniture or anything unusual. I believe there are no services that would need moving either, so all in all a pretty straightforward application.

Now, applying costs £294 and that's for an engineer to come out and inspect the site before they approve/reject and quote for dropping the kerb. In your expert opinion, what are my options here? Is it worth taking the plunge for putting an application in and if it gets rejected (which I think it will because of the minimum depth requirement), appeal on the grounds of other houses having one? Has anyone else been in the same situation and had their application reconsidered following a rejection?

I just find it unfair that houses on the road have exactly what I want to have and it seems that I cannot under these strict rules.

Davesnave

Fairness and precedent doesn't necessarily come into planning as leverage.

Regulations and requirements change over time, so what was acceptable at some previous point in history may not be relevant now. Cars are longer and wider on average than they used to be.

If the council has a published requirement, I'd assume it has to be met, otherwise why state it so clearly in the public domain?

kkudi

I agree with what you're saying - I guess I'm looking to see if there have been other homeowners who have been in my shoes and have managed to be successful with an appeal, or perhaps share their story.

What other options do I have? Is it worth considering starting a campaign to make the CPZ stricter? Would a stricter CPZ make it easier to find space on the road?

Aylesbury_Duck

Firstly, what are the times of the CPZ? 10am-noon or 10am-midnight? (12pm and 12am don't really exist as times). If it's 10am-midnight, can you manage your arrival so that you bag a space before the weekend?

If not, yes you could lobby for different CPZ times but that would take some time and presumably would require the agreement of the majority of the residents?

I don't think an appeal will work because as Davesnave said, what's the point of a regulation if they'll bend it for anyone who asks?

kkudi

The CPZ is for 2 hours only Mon-Fri. From 10am until noon.

I don't see why residents would disagree if it means there would be more parking spaces available?

System

The thing is, if you don't have the room, you don't have the room - your car will be overhanging into the footway which will potentially restrict movement on the footway (not saying this is the case but that's why they have a minimum dimension, and while your particular vehicle might not do this, the future owners of the house might etc)
There are some restrictions which roads officers are open to alternative solutions for, but minimum dimensions are not one of them ime.

Aylesbury_Duck

kkudi wrote: »

The CPZ is for 2 hours only Mon-Fri. From 10am until noon.

I don't see why residents would disagree if it means there would be more parking spaces available?

Then you could talk to the other residents and see what the appetite for change is. But be careful. If the CPZ were active at weekends, would there really be more spaces available? How many of the extra cars you see at weekends are visiting residents? How many residents might object on the basis that a weekend CPZ would make their guests and visitors' lives more difficult?

"Coming to visit us for the day or weekend? Park here, but you'll have to move your car for two hours and then hope there's somewhere else to come back to at noon." Not great, is it?

Citing the ability of your size of car to fit is not going to help because they won't grant permission on the basis of you never changing your car to a larger model.

I think you're likely to have to work as best you can with the restrictions as they are, I'm afraid.

EssexExile

Have you spoken to anyone at the council? Might be worth a try.

kkudi

I spoke to the council and they said the minimum depth is 4.80m. They said the law changed back in 2007 when the government conducted a review in December 2006.

Since then I have done a lot of research to see what other council's guidelines are for dropping the kerb.

It appears that many councils (in London) do state that a depth between 4m and 4.5m is acceptable.

Here's wording of guidelines from two councils:

It is possible to have a crossover if your parking area is an absolute minimum of 3.5 metres deep, but please be aware that it is the vehicle owner’s responsibility to ensure their vehicle does not overhang the pavement as this may be considered in law to be wilful obstruction, an offence which may be enforced against by the Council.

Another council:
Where there is a depth of forecourt between 4 metres and 4.49 metres (and the other criteria are satisfied) a vehicle crossover may be granted if the applicant is willing to enter into an agreement between the property owner and the Council (Short Frontage Agreement) stating that their vehicle will be wholly parked in the forecourt without overhanging the public highway. The Agreement will be in the form of a local land charge to the property to be transferred if the property is ever sold. Short Frontage Agreements cannot be considered in front of the front door.


Clearly, the government must have also allowed for this in their revised guidelines back in 2007. Can someone help me as to how to go about exploring this avenue with my council?

Should I go to my local councillor and explain the situation? Is their a legal avenue here?

Is each council allowed to implement whatever rules they want?

Aylesbury_Duck

kkudi wrote: »

Can someone help me as to how to go about exploring this avenue with my council?

Should I go to my local councillor and explain the situation? Is their a legal avenue here?

Is each council allowed to implement whatever rules they want?

You can only ask, but it really doesn't matter what goes on in other councils. Your council have set their own rules and your plans don't comply. You can appeal of course, but it will probably take a lot of time and if you go down a legal avenue, a lot of money with no guarantee of the outcome you want. The only outcome that would suit your situation would be the council relaxing their rules entirely, possibly leading to a number of new applications.

kkudi

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?