Dropped Kerbs
Dropped Kerbs Crossings for Wheelchairs and Mobility Scooters
We provide Dropped Kerb Crossings for wheelchair users and mobility scooters where ever we can. This is often done in one of three ways:- At the planning stage for a new scheme
- In a scheme to maintain or refurbish an area
- Where a specific request has been received.
Dropped Kerbs for Vehicular Crossings
The provision of a dropped kerb allows a house owner to drive his/her car over an existing footway to access their driveway or garage.In order to ensure that vehicle crossings are properly constructed, all domestic vehicle crossings will be built either by Service Direct, an arm of Durham County Council, or by a Street Works Contractor, authorised by ourselves. Service Direct will deal with the provision of estimates and require to receive payments before the work is carried out. If a Street Works Contractor is used, he will have to apply for a Road Opening Licence to carry out this work and there is a charge for the licence.
Planning permission is not usually required for such work, but will be if:
- The property involved has frontage directly on to a classified road. A and B Class roads are obviously classified, however you may need to check with us to see if your road is a classified C Class road, which will also require permission.
- The property involved is a listed building.
- The property involved is other than a house for a single family, e.g. flat, maisonette, commercial or industrial premises.
Conditions
The following is a list of conditions relevant to the construction and the use of a domestic vehicle crossing after it has been completed.Permitted Types of Vehicles
A domestic vehicle crossing may only be used by a private light goods or similar vehicle. It may not be used by heavy goods vehicles or mechanical equipment. If a delivery, such as a skip, is made to the property, and in doing so the delivery damaged the crossing, any repairs will be the responsibility of the occupier.Size of the Crossing
The width of a standard crossing is 2.44 metres at the back of the public footway. This increases to about 4.58 metres at the kerbline. Crossings up to twice that width or two separate crossings may be built where there is sufficient space to leave a continuous length or two metres of unused space at the kerbline. A crossing, which covers the full frontage, may not be permitted.Shared Access
Where the occupiers of two adjoining properties share a driveway, and wish to build a double width crossing to serve the two sites, one occupier should act on behalf of both parties.Two Crossings at the same Property
Where a request is made for two crossings to serve the property and the space available means that the area between them is at, or close to the minimum limits, i.e. two metres in width, a decision will have to be made as to the shape of the crossing. Where there is an existing crossing it may mean that this also will have to be modified.Parking within your Property
Your application will not be approved unless you are able to provide a suitable parking area within your property, this must be at least 4.8 metres long, by and 2.44 metres wide. There must be enough space around this area for pedestrian access. If the width of your property is more than 8 metres these conditions may not apply.There may be instances where the above criteria are not met. In such cases approval may be given, subject to a site inspection by a Highway Inspector. The Highway Inspector's decision as to whether the application will be approved or refused is final.
No part of a vehicle parked within your property may project on to or over the highway. The crossing may not be used as a parking area and no part of it is exempted for the purpose of footway parking.
Hard Standings
Where you are intending to use gravel or a similar loose material for your hard standing, you should consider the problem of some being carried on to the highway by the movement of the vehicle. This is especially true where the surface comes up to the boundary, Where material of this type is used, concrete or blacktop should be laid in a 500mm strip from the boundary to the start of the gravelled area, This will help to reduce any problem. If the material is carried onto the highway it will be the responsibility of the occupier to remove it by sweeping etc.Drainage
The parking area within your property must be built so that water does not drain from it across the footway. Suitable drainage must be provided within the boundaries of your property.Standard Finish
The standard finish to crossings is either blacktop or concrete. This will be decided by Service Direct when you apply for an estimate.If you are proposing a non-standard finish such as block paving, enter details where indicated. Excessively bright colours or mixed finishes will not be permitted. The decision on such matters will be made by us. If at a later date after acceptance of the crossing by us, reinstatement work of changes in the road layout take place, they will try their utmost to match the finish, colour or shape of the blocks, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Street Furniture
Where applicants have removed more of the wall or fence running along the boundary, than is required by the size of the crossing, it should be understood that an item of street furniture, i.e. lamp post, telegraph pole, traffic sign etc., may be erected at any time in the footway outside the area of a crossing, even though this may obstruct an area where there is no wall or similar feature.Obstacles to Construction
If the proposed position of the access is obstructed by a road sign, lamp post, or tree, etc., the location should be altered to avoid the obstacle. If this is not feasible, a decision will have to be made by the relevant section as to whether the item should be removed or relocated.If a statutory authority is required to carry out the work by relocating a fire hydrant, telegraph pole etc., any charges for such work will be the responsibility of the applicant. who will be required to produce written proof of approval by the authority to Service Direct before a crossing can be built.
If an applicant wishes the crossing to be placed in a location other than that recommended by Service Direct and this requires the relocation of a lamp post or similar item, which would not otherwise be necessary, the applicant will be required to pay the full cost of relocation.
