Part 2 Class B: forming an access to a highway

Forming a new access permitted development on a highway is narrower than most people assume. Class B of Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits the formation, laying out and construction of a means of access to a highway which is not a trunk road or a classified road, and only where that access is required in connection with development permitted by another Class in the Order.

Two limits sit inside that sentence. The road has to be unclassified, and the access has to serve something else that is itself permitted development. A dropped kerb on its own, serving nothing, is not what the class was written for.

What Class B permits and the link to other rights

Class B is a supporting right rather than a standalone one. It exists so that development permitted elsewhere in the Order can actually be reached.

The usual pairing on a domestic site is a hard surface under Class F of Part 1, which permits a hard surface within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse incidental to its enjoyment. Form the driveway under Class F and the access serving it under Class B, and both sit within permitted development provided the road is unclassified and the front garden surfacing meets the drainage requirement.

The class expressly excludes an access required in connection with development permitted by Class A of Part 2, which is the gates, fences and walls class. So a new opening formed purely to accommodate a new gate does not qualify.

Where the associated development needs planning permission, the access goes with it. Include the access in the application drawings rather than treating it as a separate matter, because the highway officer will comment on both.

Classified roads and why they are excluded

A classified road is an A, B or C road. Trunk roads and motorways are the responsibility of National Highways in England and are excluded separately.

The exclusion exists because access onto a higher category road carries a different level of risk. Traffic speeds are higher, flows are heavier, and the consequences of a substandard access are more serious, so the decision is one the planning system is meant to take rather than one that happens automatically.

Finding out the classification is straightforward and worth doing first. The highway authority holds the definitive list, and its highways team will confirm the classification of a specific length of road by email. Do not rely on the road's appearance. Quiet residential streets are sometimes classified, and busy-looking distributor roads sometimes are not.

Where the road is classified, the access needs planning permission. That is usually a householder or minor application with a visibility splay drawing, and a short Planning Statement explaining the access geometry and the reason for the position.

The separate highway consent under the Highways Act 1980

Permitted development status settles the planning question and nothing else. The physical work of lowering the kerb and crossing the footway requires consent from the highway authority under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980.

That is a licence, not a planning permission. It is applied for separately, assessed by a highways inspector, and charged at the authority's own published rate. The authority can refuse, and its refusal carries no right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The two processes have different tests. The planning question is whether the access is acceptable in land use and highway safety terms. The section 184 question is whether the crossing can be constructed safely and to the authority's specification, given the street furniture, drainage, services and trees actually present.

Applicants sometimes obtain planning permission and then discover the highway authority will not licence the crossing. Speak to the highways team before submitting anything.

Visibility splays and what the highway authority checks

Visibility is assessed as a splay triangle at the access: a setback distance measured back from the carriageway edge, and a sight distance measured along the road in each direction.

For a domestic access on a residential street the setback is commonly taken at 2.4 metres, with the sight distance derived from the speed vehicles actually travel at rather than from the posted limit. Manual for Streets sets out the approach for residential streets, and the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges covers higher category roads.

The splay has to be kept clear of obstructions above a low threshold, usually around 0.6 metres, which brings the front wall, hedge and parked cars into the assessment. Where the splay crosses land you do not own, you cannot guarantee it, and the officer will treat it as unavailable.

Other items on the inspector's list are the gradient of the drive at the back of the footway, whether a vehicle can stand clear of the footway while a gate opens, and whether the site allows a vehicle to leave in forward gear. A Transport Statement covers this properly where the access serves more than one dwelling.

Verges, services and street furniture

The verge is highway land and crossing it needs the authority's consent, which is not always given. Some authorities protect grass verges as amenity and refuse crossings on that basis alone.

Below ground is the more expensive problem. Water stopcocks, gas valves, telecoms chambers, gully pots and cable ducts all sit under footways and verges, and a crossing that runs over them may require the apparatus to be raised, protected or diverted. The statutory undertaker does that work, at the applicant's cost, on its own timetable.

Above ground, a lamp column, a signpost, a bus stop flag or a tree in the verge can block the position entirely. Check what is there before you decide where the drive goes, and take a photograph of the frontage with the proposed position marked. It saves a wasted application.

Our note on EV charge points under Part 2 covers the related rights that often follow a new driveway.

Access to a trunk road and National Highways

Where the road is a trunk road or a motorway, National Highways is the highway authority. Access onto the strategic road network is governed by the Department for Transport circular on the strategic road network, and the starting position is that new direct accesses are resisted.

For planning applications affecting the network, National Highways is a statutory consultee and can direct a refusal or the imposition of conditions. Engage early, because the evidence required is more demanding than for a local road and the timescales are longer.

For a rural property whose only frontage is a trunk road, the realistic options are usually to use an existing access, to share an access with a neighbouring property, or to demonstrate that an improved access is safer than the one already there. Protected land brings further restrictions, and our guide to article 2(3) land and permitted development sets those out.

Sequencing the two applications

1. Confirm the road classification with the highway authority in writing.
2. Ask the highways team for an informal view on the proposed position, with a marked-up photograph or plan.
3. If the road is classified, or the associated development is not permitted development, apply for planning permission with the access shown.
4. Once the planning position is settled, submit the section 184 vehicle crossing application.
5. Pay the authority's charge and allow for any services diversion.
6. Where permitted development is being relied on, consider a lawful development certificate under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 before a sale.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to check the constraints affecting your frontage before you commission drawings.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. A lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful, so check the position with your local planning authority 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.