Those of you that have drives

[Snowball24]

We don't really need it dropping, we can access our drive fine as it is, the main part is dropped from when we moved in but the extra bit isn't , we may drop it one day x

[JLH]

Originally Posted by Snowball24

We don't really need it dropping, we can access our drive fine as it is, we may drop it one day x

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it is different if you already have a dropped kerb in place and you drive over the drive to reach your extended part , its when people dont have any drop kerbs at all but insist on driving over the pavement that problems arise.

[daytonababe]

We have a dropped kerb to the drive and from that we can access the rest of our parking ( which was the front garden ) ..

Most people round here have turned the front garden into parking and access it by driving over the kerb .. we don’t do this as aside from damaging the kerb it would damage the body kit on my sons car

[Fairysparkled]

The local council will have a list of approved contractors that can carry out this work. Any one telling you that you dont need a dropped kerb is at it. Be very careful who you employ to do the job. Have a look at jobs they have done from a couple of years before, as any done recently will still look good.

[mitch84]

We’re looking at houses now. Lots of houses in the area are 3 bed semi’s with a front garden, the majority have turned these into driveways, and about 50% I’d say have dropped kerbs.
There is definitely an attitude round here that you don’t need to. I was talking to my husband, and he was like oh we can just drive up. It’s not for me, I think it looks rough.
However it is apparently quite expensive here to do, and so I’m looking at houses with it done

[scooby99]

We had a drive put in last year; our council now has very strict rules re the width & depth of the drive, the materials used, the soakaway & there must be at least 20% soft landscaping within the drive area to aid drainage.

We're one of the last to get a drive on our street; most of our neighbours have had drives for years without the above rules and no need for retrospective action.

We applied straight away to have our kerb dropped by the council; it took 6 months for it to be done; the average wait with our council is 6-12 months.

During that 6 months, we were unable to use our drive; you can be fined for driving over the footpath plus fined for any damage the council consider you've made to their pavement.

In some cases where people have a drive but haven't had the kerb dropped, our council have installed bollards or a railing on the pavement across the entire width of the drive blocking access to it; they're entitled to do this and it just means that when the resident asks for the kerb to be dropped, they must now also pay the additional cost to remove the bollards/railing as well.

By the way, until the day our kerb was dropped & a yellow line was painted on the road outside our house,ie, 6 months, certain neighbours continued to park outside our house even though it was clear that we now had a drive; oh well, nothing we could do about it until the council finished their work.

£3,500 for the drive plus £2,000 to the council for the dropped kerb.

[PPM]

Don’t drop the kerb then expect to pay for new tyres on a regular basis as the carcass gets damaged with the constant bumping up the edge of the kerb.

[Ellelledee]

Sorry all just seen the replies. On here where I live all the drives (all done by house owners as no drives on here) have dropped kerbs and all have just tarmac drives. Think 1 has block paving. When he said about not needing a dropped kerb I was like “what? ”
He actually said “if you are going to get a dropped kerb get the drive done first that way when the council come and do the drop kerb they know which height to put it to whereas if you get the kerb done first then we have to work your drive according to the kerb” but then he said no need for a dropped kerb just drive over the path and no one will obstruct. I am pretty sure he must have driven around blinkered looking at all the bad parking on here plus the lady who he was initially visiting has had run ins with the man with all the vans who absolutely without a shadow of a doubt WILL park across a drive without a dropped kerb just for the thrill of someone confronting him. We are going to get one but these guys won’t be doing it.

[CrochetFreak]

We had parking problems and decided to have driveway/dropped kerb. The contractors who did all the work were private contractors and they also did the dropped kerb but they were approved by the council to do it. It was not the council that dropped the kerb. Make sure you get the drive wide enough as a neighbour up the road had driveway just wide enough for the car and with cars parked right up to the edges of the driveway and parked opposite sometimes he is blocked in as no room in the road to manoever his car in or out. He needed the angle to turn but could only go straight out. Had to have the driveway widened.

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by Ellelledee

Sorry all just seen the replies. On here where I live all the drives (all done by house owners as no drives on here) have dropped kerbs and all have just tarmac drives. Think 1 has block paving. When he said about not needing a dropped kerb I was like “what? ”
He actually said “if you are going to get a dropped kerb get the drive done first that way when the council come and do the drop kerb they know which height to put it to whereas if you get the kerb done first then we have to work your drive according to the kerb” but then he said no need for a dropped kerb just drive over the path and no one will obstruct. I am pretty sure he must have driven around blinkered looking at all the bad parking on here plus the lady who he was initially visiting has had run ins with the man with all the vans who absolutely without a shadow of a doubt WILL park across a drive without a dropped kerb just for the thrill of someone confronting him. We are going to get one but these guys won’t be doing it.

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Must be completely different around the country!
Deciding whether to do the drive first OR dropped kerb first is not an option here.
Our council will not even consider a dropped kerb until your drive is completed.
They then carry out a visit inspecting the drive to ensure it meets their regulations; if not, they'll reject your application, ask you to make the alterations etc and let them know when it's ready for another inspection!