Dropped kerb guidance
It is essential that you read this guidance in full, before you start your application. Once you have checked that you meet the criteria, you can submit your application using our online form.
Fees
We require an application fee to be paid in full at the time of application. The current fee is £279.
From 1 April 2023, the fixed cost of a standard domestic pavement vehicle access for up to two domestic cars and constructed in grey bricks is £2,137. Extended accesses may be approved at an additional cost, but must comply with our set criteria.
Crossovers for more than two vehicles or in areas such as conservation areas, will be subject to a detailed cost estimate.
This price is fixed for three months from the date we approve your application, and accounts for the construction of the access only. You are responsible for all costs associated with the building of the hardstanding on your property, including the removal of your boundary wall/fence and any private apparatus such as pipes, manhole covers etc.
If you envisage that as part of your private works you will require mobile plant on the highway or you will require a footpath closure please contact our Streetworks team via email streetworks@wandsworth.gov.uk to query whether a licence is required and any associated costs.
Additional fees
Additional costs will be charged in the following circumstances:
- If a public utility company such as water, gas or electricity considers it necessary to move or protect its underground cables or pipes
- If street fittings such as lamp columns or bollards need to be moved
- For the excavation of trial holes, to determine if tree roots or public utility apparatus are in the vicinity of the proposed access.
- If the Traffic Management Order (the legal document which defines, for example, the hours of restrictions on parking and loading and the start and end points for yellow lines and/or parking bays) needs to be altered to take account of the construction of your vehicle access. The process to alter the Order takes up to 3 months, subject to no substantial objections being received. The construction of the crossover can only proceed once the alteration to the TMO Order is complete. The current charge is £1,900. The cost of altering the markings associated with the TMO Order and laying a single yellow line where appropriate is £50. There would be an additional cost for relocating street furniture, for example. pay and display machines or signposts, should it be obstructing your proposed access.
Driveway marking
We also offer a service whereby a white line can be installed in front of your access to dissuade drivers from obstructing it. We must point out that this line is advisory only. It has no legal standing, but experience has shown it to be well observed by motorists.
You can apply for driveway marking after your access has been constructed if you are experiencing obstruction problems.
Criteria for approval
Pavement vehicle accesses will not be approved where there is poor sight lines exiting the access or if the access is within close proximity of a road hump, road safety feature etc.
Only one vehicle access will be allowed per individual property (for the purposes of this document, a house in multiple occupancy or block of flats will be considered as one property). Multiple crossovers risk causing hazards to pedestrian road users, particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly, disabled and children. They are also detrimental to the street-scene where they result in all or most of the garden being made into hard-standing and landscaping being lost. An existing vehicle access to a property from a private access road, whether to an off street space or garage, will be considered as existing off street parking provision.
Some vehicles may ground on a newly constructed access, we will not accept responsibility for this. If you have any concerns, check before applying.
Controlled Parking Zones
If the access for which you are applying is located within an existing Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) or an area that has been approved by the committee to become a CPZ, we will refuse your application if, in constructing the access, its width and associated yellow lines would take up more than one average vehicle space, taken to be 4.5 metres.
We will also refuse proposed accesses within a CPZ if the total length of existing accesses takes fifty percent or more of the available kerbside space. Only one vehicle access will be allowed per individual property - please see the above guidance at the beginning of this section for more details.
Measurements
For the parking area you are planning on your property, there must be at least 4.5 metres between the back of the pavement or property boundary (the face of the wall, fence or hedge, for example) and the front of your building. The area must be at least 2.3 metres wide. In this area there must be no obstructions, for example a bay window or a tree. These dimensions are the absolute minimum and cannot be reduced.
Planning permission
Prior to installation of your crossover you will be asked to provide written confirmation from the Planning service that your crossover and any associated works including a hardstanding are lawful or that they have the benefit of planning permission.
As a guide, you may need planning permission for the parking area or the access to your property if:
- It is in an Article 4 Direction Area
- It is in a conservation area
- It is a listed building;
- It is on a classified A or B road
- It is a flat, maisonette or a business
- A boundary wall over one metre high is to be altered
- It is proposed that a tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order is to be removed
- It is within Transport for London Road Network (TFLRN) and is maintained by TFL
If you consider, based on these criteria that:
- Your crossover may be lawful - you can submit an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness
- Planning permission is required - you can apply for planning permission.
We recommend that you wait to hear from us before you apply. If you would like additional information to the above, then please contact Planning on planning@wandsworth.gov.uk.
Surfacing materials
Any area of hard surface between the front elevation and the highway exceeding 5 square metres should be made of a porous material or if made of a non-porous material, then provision should be made to direct water run-off to a permeable or porous area within the curtilage of the property.
Details regarding the construction of hard surfaces can be found on the Department of Communities and Local Government website.
Site survey
We will carry out a site survey after we receive your application. We strongly recommend that you wait to hear from us before you apply for planning permission (there is a fee for this), or before you make access in your boundary, as we may not approve your application if it does not comply with the criteria above. We will write to you within 4 weeks to advise whether your application has been authorised.
Freeholder permission
If you are not the freeholder of the property, you must provide their written permission with your application. The permission of the Housing Area Manager is needed if it is a council property or if the proposed pavement vehicle access falls within Housing maintained land.
Public utilities
As mentioned above, we have to enquire with public utilities (the companies who own underground cables and pipes) about every application for a pavement vehicle access because it may affect their equipment.
They may want to move some of their equipment, such as underground boxes, street lights or telegraph poles and this can be expensive. Even if there is nothing to see on the pavement, there may be cables or pipes underneath that are not deep enough to take the weight of a vehicle.
If this is the case you will have to pay for the work, which can take three months.
Trees
We do not remove trees in reasonable health unless there is an extremely good reason. A pavement vehicle access is not usually a good enough reason.
Commencement of works
We will not start any work until you have paid us in full. We will let you know when we need this payment. Furthermore, the dropped kerb works will only commence when you confirm the construction of your hardstanding area is complete and walls, fences, etc have been removed to permit clear access to the hard standing area.
If you are in a Controlled Parking Zone, you must not remove any wall or fence, or construct your hard standing area until the Traffic Management Order (TMO) has cleared, this can take up to three months.
Appealing our decision
If you feel that there are relevant exceptional circumstances which may justify a departure from the stated criteria you may appeal against the decision to refuse your application.
An appeal will not be considered due to parking conditions in your area or on account of older existing accesses in your road or elsewhere that may not comply with the current criteria.
In the first instance, please write to us explaining your reasons for appeal and this will be considered by the appropriate officer.
Wandsworth Council
Environment and Community Services Department
Traffic and Engineering
Tadmore House, Frogmore Complex
London
SW18 1EY