dropped kerb / offroad parking : planning permission (and refusal!)

[Mary Fisher]

"nightjar .me.uk>"

That's an idea - how does one go about it?

Mary

[Steve Walker]

I have a kit-car (Lotus 7 style) which has a long bonnet and the seats right at the back - due to a neighbour's hedge, visibility (particularly checking for pedestrians) is much better if I reverse out! However for my everyday car, I always reverse in.

SteveW

[Bob Eager]

Yes...councils will refuse on the grounds that you have to enter *and* leave in a forwards direction. Failure to have an approved dropped kerb can lead to criminal charges, and if it's an unapproved one (as opposed to none) and someone is injured on it, the owner will be liable.

Apart from that, do what you want.

[Chris J Dixon]

I have noticed on recent planning applications that some councils are getting much fussier about new access points. Visibility lines have to be calculated (it is a shame some existing road junctions wouldn't comply) and I have seen requirements that no water shall be allowed to run off the drive, loose gravel is not permitted, and limits on steepness.

Chris

[Brian Sharrock]

IANAL: AIUI, it's an _absolute_ offense to 'drive on the pavement'.

A ' proper dropped kerb' off the council will include a legal 'Easement' permitting vehicles to be driven from the Public Highway -across the Counicil;s pavement - onto your property.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Some, like me, might have a good reason for driving nose in - I have a garage and the obvious way might be to have the bonnet/engine near the working (tools and workbench) end of the garage. Car #2 always sits out in the weather and is reversed into the drive.

[nightjar]

There is nothing illegal about painting road markings that do not require a Traffic Order and that comply with the Road Signs Regulations and General Directions, so I did it by painting one with factory floor lining equipment. When they resurfaced the road, the contractors replaced it with a pukka one. However, I think the right way is to apply to the local authority Highways Department. Last I heard, the cost was about £60.

Colin Bignell

[nightjar]

The requirement will be for there to be sufficient space to turn a car of a specific size, usually the 95th percentile, not whichever car you happen to own at the time.

Colin Bignell

[Skipweasel]

So why are learners taught to reverse round corners? (insert smiley here)

[Skipweasel]

[Andy Hall]

So that driving instructors and test examiners can look at interesting parts of their female clients' anatomy while this is being done.

[Bob Eager]

You wait until Swansea council catches up with the DVLA! :-)

[clot]

It's not just Swansea, the DVLA has grown large roots and has branches all over the place these days. :(

[Bob Eager]

Hope they have council permission!

[clot]

Whilst an agency, they have they greatest protection that can be met. Their roots, trunks, branches and leaves have a preservation order from central guvmint.;(

[Chris J Dixon]

hell of a clearance to avoid grounding!

Chris

[Si]

Think about why such a photo would be part of a safetycenter's collection...

[Bluesplayer]

Yes i had a run in with my local council on a similar issue . I live in a street in which every house with a car owner was given a dropped kerb free if charge . My house previously was owned by an old lady so she never applied for one . So i have been driving up the kerb with a little piece of timber snuggling the kerb , and parking on my garden without problem .

Then i got a letter through my door saying i was breaking some by-law dating from 1878 ? stating i was driving illegally over a highway and byway . LOL i could face criminal prosecution ! . So i rang the council and i asked if i could have a dropped kerb like my nieghbours , they promptly sent a guy round , and this guy spent an hour with is little book and pen scribbling notes . then he went .

3 weeks later i got a letter saying it would cost me 699 quid ! , lol , it would cost of me a bag of bitumen and two kerbs at the time around 20 quid all in , i just ripped up the letter and threw it away .

Im still the only one without a dropped kerb , i still drive over the path ( like my neighbors ) and i have never heard from them since ( 10 years ago ). If i do i will fight them . This is sheer lunacy .

[Huge]

That's going to be amusing in the winter.

[RobertL]

Driving acoss the pavement is an offence if there is no dropeed kerb. However, I believe that having your car parked on the garden is not considered evidence that you drove it there; you migh thave craned it there for example, or dismatled it and rebuiklt it bit by bit. in just the same way as parking on the pavement might cause the offence of 'obstruction' but is not proof of driving on the pavement.

Robert