Document bundle for a dropped kerb and off street parking
A driveway needs a crossover licence from the highway authority and, depending on the road class and the surfacing, a planning application too. Here is the evidence each one wants.
Putting a driveway in your front garden needs two separate approvals from two separate parts of the council, and people routinely get one and assume it covers the other. The dropped kerb application documents go to the highway authority for a vehicle crossover licence, and the planning side is a separate question that depends on what road you front and how you surface the drive. On an unclassified road with permeable surfacing you may need no planning application at all. On a classified road you always do.
When planning permission is needed as well as a licence
Two rules decide it.
First, the access. Class B of Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 permits the formation of a means of access to a highway where that access is needed in connection with other permitted development, but it excludes access to a trunk road or a classified road. So forming a new access onto an A, B or C road needs planning permission. Onto an unclassified residential street it generally does not.
Second, the surfacing. Since October 2008, laying more than five square metres of hard surface in a front garden needs planning permission unless the surface is permeable or porous, or unless rainwater is directed to a permeable area or soakaway within the curtilage. Impermeable surfacing draining to the highway is the combination that requires an application.
Add the constraints that override both. In a conservation area, or where an Article 4 direction removes the relevant rights, or where the property is listed, or where a condition on a previous permission removed permitted development rights, the position changes and permission is likely to be needed.
Checking the road classification is a two-minute job and worth doing first. Ask the highway authority, which is the county council in a two-tier area and the unitary or borough council elsewhere.
The two separate applications
Treat them as two projects on one site, because they are determined by different teams against different tests.
- The vehicle crossover licence, applied for to the highway authority under its powers in the Highways Act 1980. The authority inspects, specifies the construction, usually requires the works to be carried out by its own contractor or an approved contractor, and charges for both the application and the works.
- The planning application, where needed, made as a householder application for the formation of a vehicular access and hard surfacing.
Sequence matters. The highway authority will usually not issue a licence for an access that needs planning permission until permission exists, and the planning authority will want to know the access is acceptable in highway terms. Submitting the planning application first, with the crossover enquiry already made, is the order that wastes least time.
Where the frontage sits in a conservation area, the pack is larger because of the additional information requirements, and the documents a conservation area application needs sets those out.
Visibility and the highway authority's view
The highway authority is assessing whether a vehicle can emerge safely, and its reasons for refusal are predictable.
What it looks at: visibility in both directions from a point set back from the carriageway edge, the sight line over the frontage and any boundary wall or hedge, proximity to a junction, a pedestrian crossing, a bus stop, traffic signals or a bend, the width of the footway and whether the crossing point conflicts with a street lamp, a tree, a gully, a telecoms cabinet or a manhole, and whether a vehicle can be parked wholly within the plot without overhanging the footway.
That last point is the one householders miss. A drive needs enough depth for a car clear of the footway, and a shallow front garden on a terraced street often cannot provide it. Measure it before you spend anything.
The documents that support this part of the case are a block plan showing the access, the sight lines drawn as triangles with dimensions, a section or spot levels where the frontage slopes, and a dimensioned parking layout with the vehicle shown.
Permeable surfacing and drainage evidence
This is where the planning application is won or lost on a quiet street.
The options are a permeable block paving or porous asphalt laid over a free-draining sub-base, a conventional surface laid to fall towards a planted border or lawn of sufficient area, or a conventional surface draining to a soakaway within the garden. What is not acceptable is a slab of impermeable surfacing falling towards the pavement.
Supporting material should show the surfacing specification, the direction of fall with spot levels or arrows, and the location and size of any soakaway with the ground conditions it assumes. Where a soakaway is proposed, say what the soil is and whether infiltration is plausible: a soakaway drawn on heavy clay with no test is a comment waiting to happen.
Where the property sits over a sensitive aquifer, infiltration is not automatically acceptable and the position needs checking, as with documents for a scheme in a Source Protection Zone.
Trees and the verge
Street trees are the most common reason a crossover is refused outright, and the highway authority will not move one for a private driveway.
Check for a street tree within the proposed crossing, for a tree in your own front garden that is covered by a Tree Preservation Order or by conservation area protection, and for roots within the construction zone. Excavating the footway within the root protection area of a protected tree is wilful damage, whatever the licence says about the highway works.
Grass verges belong to the highway authority and crossing one usually means constructing it as part of the works to the authority's specification. Where the verge carries services, the statutory undertakers have to be consulted and any diversion is at your cost.
Where a tree is involved and its retention is in question, an arboricultural assessment prepared to the recognised British Standard is the evidence that settles it, and a Tree Survey is the usual route.
Boundary wall alterations
Removing or reducing a front boundary wall to form the opening is a separate matter from the access itself.
Within permitted development, gates, walls and fences next to a highway used by vehicles are limited to one metre in height, so a new or rebuilt pier has to stay within that unless permission is obtained. Demolition of a boundary wall in a conservation area can require consent in its own right, and on a listed building the wall is likely to be part of the listing or within the curtilage, which brings listed building consent into play.
Where the wall is shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may apply to the works, which is a civil matter running alongside planning rather than part of it.
Conditions on surfacing and gradient
Expect the planning permission, where one is needed, to carry conditions on the surfacing material and on drainage, requiring the permeable specification to be installed and retained. Expect the crossover licence to specify the construction build-up, the kerb type, the levels and the gradient from the carriageway to the plot, and the arrangements for inspection.
Two practical points. The licence gradient can mean the finished drive sits higher or lower than you planned, which affects levels at the house and any threshold, so get the specification before laying anything behind the crossing. And conditions requiring retention of permeable surfacing bind future owners, so replacing it with concrete years later is a breach.
A Planning Statement for this kind of application is short: the road classification, the surfacing and drainage approach, the visibility position, the parking dimensions and the constraint check. Three pages is plenty.
This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports your site needs.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need planning permission for a dropped kerb?
For an access onto a trunk or classified road, yes, because Class B of Part 2 of the GPDO 2015 excludes those. Onto an unclassified residential street, generally not. Separately, hard surfacing of more than five square metres in a front garden needs permission unless it is permeable or drains to a permeable area or soakaway.
What is the difference between a crossover licence and planning permission?
The licence comes from the highway authority and controls the works in the public highway: construction build-up, kerb type, levels and gradient, usually built by an approved contractor at your cost. Planning permission comes from the planning authority and controls whether the access and surfacing are acceptable in planning terms. You may need both.
Why would the highway authority refuse a crossover?
Inadequate visibility in one or both directions, proximity to a junction, crossing, bus stop, signals or bend, a street tree or statutory apparatus in the crossing point, insufficient footway width, or a front garden too shallow to park a vehicle clear of the footway. That last point stops many terraced frontages.
Does the driveway surface have to be permeable?
Either the surface is permeable or porous, or the rainwater is directed to a permeable area or soakaway within your own garden. More than five square metres of impermeable surfacing draining to the highway needs planning permission. Show the fall direction and, where a soakaway is proposed, say what the ground conditions are.
Can I lower my front garden wall to make the opening?
Within permitted development, walls, gates and fences next to a highway used by vehicles are limited to one metre in height, so rebuilt piers must stay within that unless permission is granted. In a conservation area, demolition of a boundary wall can need consent separately, and on a listed building the wall may be part of the listing.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.