Checklist for a dropped kerb and vehicle crossing

A dropped kerb application checklist has two halves, because two separate consents are usually in play. The crossing itself needs the highway authority's consent under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980. The driveway behind it may need planning permission, depending on the road classification, the surfacing and whether any permitted development rights have been removed. Homeowners who treat these as one application lose weeks, so sort out which half applies first, then gather the documents for each.

When planning permission is needed as well as highway consent

Hard surfacing within the curtilage of a house is permitted development under Schedule 2 Part 1 Class F of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, with one condition that catches most front gardens. If the surface sits between the wall forming the principal elevation and the highway and exceeds five square metres, it must be made of porous material or arranged so that run-off drains to a porous or permeable area within the curtilage.

The access itself is the part people miss. Forming a new vehicular access onto a classified road needs planning permission. On an unclassified road, the access can fall within Part 2 Class B of the same Order, but only where it is needed in connection with development that is itself permitted. So the sequence matters: establish the road's classification with the highway authority before you assume the access is permitted.

Four situations remove the easy route altogether:

• an Article 4 direction covering householder permitted development in the street
• a listed building, where the curtilage works may need listed building consent
• a flat or maisonette, because Part 1 rights apply to dwellinghouses only
• a planning condition on the original permission that removed the rights

In a conservation area, Class F still applies, but a wide expanse of block paving across a historic frontage is the kind of change that attracts an enforcement enquiry even where it is lawful.

The highway authority application and its tests

Section 184 gives the highway authority control over the construction of a vehicle crossing over a footway or verge. The authority can require the works to be carried out to its specification, can execute them itself, and can recover the cost from the owner. In most counties and unitary authorities, the dropped kerb is built by the authority or its term contractor, not by your builder.

The tests the authority applies are about highway safety rather than design taste. Whether a vehicle can enter and leave in forward gear, whether sightlines are adequate for the road's speed, whether pedestrians retain a usable footway, and whether the crossing conflicts with a bus stop, a crossing point, a traffic island or a loading bay. Refusals cluster around three things: inadequate visibility, insufficient depth for a car to stand clear of the footway, and a crossing that would sit within the approach to a junction.

Visibility, footway width and street furniture

Manual for Streets gives a stopping sight distance of about 43 metres at 30 mph, measured from an x-distance of 2.4 metres back from the carriageway edge. Many authorities apply that as the starting point for a residential crossing and reduce it on lightly trafficked streets. Your own authority's standard governs, so ask for it in writing before you commission a drawing.

Footway width is the second constraint. An authority will not normally accept a crossing that leaves a footway too narrow for a wheelchair or a double buggy, and the dropped section has to include transition kerbs at each end rather than a sharp step. Street furniture is the third. A lamp column, a telecoms cabinet, a gully, a stop tap, a signpost or a pillar box within the crossing width means either a redesign or a paid relocation by the asset owner, and relocating a lamp column is rarely quick.

Parking space dimensions and gradient

A car has to stand wholly within the curtilage. A frontage depth of around five metres is what most authorities look for so that a vehicle clears the footway, and a bay of about 2.4 metres by 4.8 metres is the figure commonly applied for a single space. Check the adopted parking standards in your local plan, because they vary, and the exercise of working a parking number up from a policy standard is the same whether the subject is cars or cycles.

Gradient is the detail that sinks shallow front gardens. The first part of the drive has to be gentle enough that a car does not ground on the kerb line and that surface water does not run out onto the footway. Authorities commonly ask for a level or near-level threshold for the first metre or two and no more than about one in ten beyond it. Where the garden rises steeply, a retaining structure, a different crossing position or a longer transition may be the only answers.

Permeable surfacing and drainage rules

The permeable surfacing condition in Class F exists so that front gardens stop pushing water into the sewer. The government's guidance on the permeable surfacing of front gardens sets out the three compliant approaches: a porous surface such as gravel, permeable block paving or porous asphalt; a conventional surface laid to fall towards a soakaway, border or lawn within the curtilage; or a surface under five square metres.

Draining to the highway is not an option. And an authority can refuse the crossing on that ground alone, and a gully that discharges onto a footway becomes an icing hazard in winter. Where the ground is clay or the water table is high, a soakaway may not work, which is where a small attenuation feature or a rain garden earns its place.

Illustrative example: a 1930s semi with a six-metre front garden, a 30 mph unclassified street and a street tree three metres from the proposed crossing. The workable scheme is a 2.7-metre crossing positioned clear of the tree's rooting zone, permeable block paving over a sub-base with no-dig construction within the root protection area, and a soakaway at the rear of the hardstanding. The tree is what drives the layout, not the car.

Trees, utilities and verge constraints

Street trees belong to the highway authority, and any works within the root protection area need the tree officer's agreement. Where a tree is covered by a Tree Preservation Order or stands in a conservation area, separate consent or a six-week notice applies. The root protection area under BS 5837:2012 is calculated from stem diameter, and working out canopy and tree cover across a site uses the same survey information.

Buried apparatus is the other recurring surprise. Water, gas, electricity and telecoms plant all sit under footways, and a crossing that needs a service diverted will carry the undertaker's charge on top of the authority's fee. Ask for plant records early. On a verge, the authority may require the whole verge width to be constructed to a vehicle-bearing specification rather than just the kerb line.

Fees, inspection and the documents to submit

Charges differ by authority and are published on each one's highways pages, usually as an application or inspection fee plus the construction cost. Treat any figure you read elsewhere as indicative and get the current schedule from your own authority.

For the highway consent, gather:

1. A location plan showing the property and the street.
2. A scaled frontage drawing with the crossing width, the parking space and the gradient.
3. Photographs of the frontage and the footway in both directions.
4. Details of the surfacing and the drainage arrangement.
5. The road name and classification, and the vehicle you intend to park.

For a planning application where one is needed, the national requirements apply alongside the council's local list: location plan, site plan, existing and proposed levels where the ground falls, and a short Planning Statement addressing highway safety, surface water and the frontage character. Most householder applications are decided in eight weeks.

One formal confirmation exists if you need certainty that works are lawful: a Lawful Development Certificate under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Nothing else, including informal officer comment, gives you that.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which supporting documents a frontage scheme is likely to need.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority and highway authority, or a qualified professional, before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.