dropped kerb

Jul 12, 2007 12 Replies

According to Direct.Gov, with regard to a dropped kerb



If your property:



has the frontage directly onto a classified road



is a listed building



is other than a house for a single family (for example, flat, maisonette, commercial or industrial premises)



then you will need to gain planning permission from your council before the work can take place.




We're certainly not any of the last 3, but I'm note sure exactly what point 1 means in terms of


- having the frontage directly onto a classified road.



What is this in laymen's terms. The five houses to the right of us all have dropped kerbs, so we'd be continuing an existing stretch of dropped kerb. We're not near a junction, and there's no street furniture in the way.



And also - ballpark figures on costs? Anyone had it done recently?



M

.....

I had mine done 6 years ago for £80 iirc, though it was at the time when the Council were resurfacing the pavements, so I got it cheap.

I have been told that for the Councils Highways Dept to do it normally would cost around £350.

You can DIY, but you need to get permission from the Council, and either buy from them, or show them, some sort of Insurance for while the works are taking place. The bloke next door to me did his that way many years ago, around £50 plus cost of materials it was then, so maybe £100ish now, plus 4 or 5 kerb stones, a tarmac surface and cost of removing the rubbish(if required). Alan.

I'll attempt to actually answer what you asked...

My understanding of a classified road is one that has been classified as an A or B road (i.e. it has a number). Also C, but I don't know if they still exist. Presumably it'd apply to a motorway too if you could have a house that fronted onto it!

With luck, your LEA will have a map on the web that shows which roads are classified.

Maurice W ( snipped-for-privacy@m.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Is the road an A-road or a B-road? Does it have a road number, or is it just a road?

Streetmap or any road atlas will give the road numbers for any classified roads.

It means if your drive exits onto a road (which is classified, ie M-way, A-road, B-road, or C-road) instead of onto a private lane or an unclassified road.

Whatever the council want to charge, basically.

You can sometimes get them free if you need access for a wheelchair.

Owain

Not any more; you need to be a registered streetworks contractor under the New Roads and Streetworks Act, using operatives with streetworks cards.

Owain

We had ours widened recently to triple width (from single) by the council care for your area people -- no mention of PP -- for 500 notes.

Thanks for this and the other replies. It's certainly not an A or B numbered road, so I reckon that PP can't be required. The number of houses nearby who have dropped the kerbs seem to suggest that would be the case.

Seems to be cheaper that I had thought.

Main issue is find a car that's weenie enough to fit! Our house, unlike the others, has a bay window, so we're going to be restricted to a mini or small car (yaris, c1 or smart)

M

New Mini - longer than it looks, Yaris - has very wide door opening radius, Smart - I wouldn't like to be involved in a accident in one...

Where I live you have to pay the council for a "survey" to get approval and then do the work to their spec using a contractor from their approved list. As I live on a quiet cul-de-sac I just employed a reputable local firm (who happen to be on the list anyway) and forgot about the local authority.

MBQ

Someone up the road said it'd be £250 so they decided against it and now park their car on the street. Another person uses a rather attractive plank.

My highways authority (herts) did mine recently for 650 plus the 80 quid "survey" and they reused the old curbs, badly cutting them to try to fit the new angles. They put a thin layer of tarmac that dents easily and they also they damaged part of the road that adjoins the dropped section and didn't repair it.

Complained to them and got a reply saying that all their work is of the highest quality and the work has been inspected. I'd have been better getting some gypos to do it.

Not always. We were charged 50%

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