Oh dear! Just had visit from council officer about not having dropped kerb...

Generali

LillyJ wrote: »

Annoying then, that there is such variation between what different councils charge if they are just recouping costs?

I should imagine that the problem is that the money you pay to recoup the council is made up of 3 parts:

1. costs to the contractor
2. profit to the contractor
3. kickback to the council staff/councillors

1 will be a broadly similar sum across the country.

#2 & 3 will be a variable amount depending on how greedy they are.

Ellie007

Thanks Firmonkey, I appreciate your views and understand the greater arguments surrounding the issue.

In this particular instance however, we already have a white line in front of our property and 'no parking' signs. This further added to the confusion when viewing as we assumed the kerb had already been dropped (it is only about 15mm high).

If we are successful in our application, we will not have deprived anyone of parking spaces as at present it is not allowed to park on the road by us. On the flipside, if we are refused a dropped kerb, we will merely exacerbate the parking problem up our road with the addition of two more cars to the parking battle.

Secondly, the area was paved before we moved in. If we are unsuccessful it will still remain paved as we will not convert it back into a garden. So there will be no material effect in this either.

fimonkey

Ellie, you have my overall sympathy in your particular case then, and sorry I have nothing constructive to add to help you.... However my rant about driveways in general still stands... GRRRRR, give British wildlife a chance!

SingleSue

I have feet in both camps.

On my street just recently, neighbours have started to have dropped kerbs and parking in their front gardens, this has meant a great deal of parking pressure on the rest of us who do not have off street parking. When it was one or two it was no real problem but now there is a whole swathe of the street with driveways, it makes it difficult when you have loads of shopping in the car, or if you are like me, have disabled children (non wheelchair) where you need to be able to load and unload children in a safe manner close to your property.

I do have permission for a driveway, all the plans have been done but the financial cost is far too great for me to be able to afford it at the moment but it seems in my street, having a driveway is the way to go to be able to actually get anywhere near to your house for offloading kids and shopping.

silvercar

We looked at a house where the kerb was low enough to drive over. The sellers had also made their front garden into a driveway.

I phoned the council and they said that they wouldn't allow the kerb to be dropped officially as the road was not wide enough under current regulations! It was the end of a cul-de-sac but a circular "end" with a small green roundabout in the middle. Apparently the road was too narrow and should have been widenned but the residents had objected to the grassed roundabout being removed, so it hadn't happened. In a stalemate the council was refusing to allow official driveways and anyone parking on their drive risked prosecution.

Snooze

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Councils are not out to make money. If they do, anything they make goes into local services and/or towards next year's budget for Council Tax. I only mention this as it's unlikely that the Council are simply charging money for nothing. They are more likely to be passing on to you their direct costs of providing a service not covered by their budget - they wouldn't budget for the cost of dropping the kerb for everyone, if it's optional and only a choice exercised by a few. Anyway, if they did budget for it, your Council Tax would be higher - and so would everyone elses.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

What planet are you on? It's clear that you're a Civil Servant. :rolleyes:

Rob

vikingaero

Councils should charge for quotes to get a dropped kerb.:eek: Why? Well why should other ratepayers pick up the tab for something that is your privilege? The Council isn't going to know if your proposed driveway/off road parking is acceptable within the regs without a site visit.

Should they only allow their own contractors to carry out the work? Yes, because otherwise you could employ Mr Cowboy Tarmacdam to bodge it and some householders would refuse to pay to have it repaired when Mr Cowboy has long disappeared. Plus Mr Cowboy could create hazards for pedestrians who have priority. The Council should only allow you to use your own contractors if they charge another fee for inspecting the finished work.

Snooze

vikingaero wrote: »

Councils should charge for quotes to get a dropped kerb.:eek: Why? Well why should other ratepayers pick up the tab for something that is your privilege? The Council isn't going to know if your proposed driveway/off road parking is acceptable within the regs without a site visit.

Should they only allow their own contractors to carry out the work? Yes, because otherwise you could employ Mr Cowboy Tarmacdam to bodge it and some householders would refuse to pay to have it repaired when Mr Cowboy has long disappeared. Plus Mr Cowboy could create hazards for pedestrians who have priority. The Council should only allow you to use your own contractors if they charge another fee for inspecting the finished work.

It's becoming clear who the Labour voters are in this thread. :rolleyes:

chappers

I have never seen the pavement strengthened when a dropped kerb has been fitted, however you must use an approved contractor.
Ask your council for a list of approved contractors you will probabbly find a cheaper quote from one of them, especially if the guy will take cash.
I have a guy who drops a kerb for £400 cash i don't ask to closely which job the materials should really be on, or where he should be working at the time.
Get your permission and then next time you see some guys repairing the pavement ask them if they fancy earning themselves alittle extra.

*jobags*

More likely to have been one of your neighbours who shopped you to the council - seeing as you were getting something "free" which they had paid through the nose for.

Yes I do work for a council and it never ceases to surprse me the information people are falling over themselves to give in order to dish the dirt about their neighbours - and the photos/videos and tape recordings people send us - sad or what? I've got loads on my desk but I don't have a video recorder or tape recorder at work and I'm !!!!!!ed if I'm bringing this stuff home - I've got a life, even if they haven't

Unlikely to be an over eager council employee - we're all too busy calculating our performance indicator returns working out how to cover the frozen posts, and get the councillors and wannabee councillors off our backs so we can provide a public service to the public - not the parasites and hangers on (local councillors, consultants, "empowerment practitioners" etc)

I work in Herts and all this is organised through Highways at the County Council - you can only use their contractor and it costs about £3K just for the crossover - I'm not excusing it or anything - it is as it is.

They tell us that the pavement has to be strengthened to support services underneath e.g drains and tree roots etc

Anyway, never under estimate the willingness or ability of a neighbour to report you for any minor infringement or concern that someone may be getting a few crumbs of the cake more than them

Good luck - it could be worse, they could threaten you with an injunction and that will cost you more than a few bollards