Help to enlarge my driveway

stevel1973_2

I hope someone here can help me though i am not sure that this is the correct category.
I want to make my driveway bigger, at the widest my driveway is 2.5 meters , this causes problems when i drive my car onto the driveway as i am continuously hitting curb especially when cars are parked either side of the road. I can imagine that this is not doing my car much good, i have contacted the council and though the drive is their property / responsibilty its down to me to pay for it?? Standard driveways are now built at 5 meters so why dont they come and widen my driveway, has anyone else had any similar issues that they can help me with?

Conor_3

There is no right to a free dropped kerb for a driveway - the council are not obliged to provide vehicular access over a pathway to a property. It's up to you to pay. The people who have 5m wide ones have to pay.

Idiophreak

Looked into it a while ago and you have to pay...yeah, it's their kerb..but it's you that wants something doing to it..

If someone came along and said "I'd like you to sew 7000 buttons onto your shirt at your expense", would you do it?

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Is it a council property? One would assume any such modification would increase the value of the property, so perhaps you could ask them to bear that in mind when quoting you.

stevel1973_2

My concern is that my drive is not fit for purpose as its an old drive that is not sufficent to get a car over withouit hitting the curb. I have just had to pay for my wifes car which the bushes and suspension needed work done, now im not saying its directly related but im sure it has not helped.
They said to me that they could serve me a notice effectively banning me from using my driveway until i have paid for it to be enlarged.
Surely its their responsibility to make sure people can access their driveways, also given the fact that the drive was made in the 1930`s and the cars have got bigger in that time.

Hintza

I really need to wake up in the morning. I thought this was spam and going to read:-

Help to enlarge my p....

cyclonebri1

What forums do you usually frequent?:rotfl: :rotfl:

Hintza

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

What forums do you usually frequent?:rotfl: :rotfl:

Its those incessant junk mails.........honest

Conor_3

stevel1973 wrote: »

My concern is that my drive is not fit for purpose as its an old drive that is not sufficent to get a car over withouit hitting the curb. I have just had to pay for my wifes car which the bushes and suspension needed work done, now im not saying its directly related but im sure it has not helped.
They said to me that they could serve me a notice effectively banning me from using my driveway until i have paid for it to be enlarged.
Surely its their responsibility to make sure people can access their driveways, also given the fact that the drive was made in the 1930`s and the cars have got bigger in that time.

No, it's your responsibility. It's your property you're wanting to access.

vansboy

I recently asked the council what the procedure was, as we're new to the area.

They - eventually - sent me a list of approved contractors, which you can ONLY use, so no DIY handywork.

The annoying part, was the £180 admin fee the council apply to check the job. I'd have thought that if it was done by their 'approved' people, this could be a much lower amount!!

They did say that some contractors include the fee within their quote.

But you'll still be paying, one way or another!!

VB