Dropped kerb (whilst we're on the subject)

[noseall]

I live a few hundred yards from a primary school and wish to extend my already dropped kerb so that it actually serves its purpose.

Currently the dropped kerb consists of two droppers and two low fellas which altogether gives us a rather small target to aim at. I need to swing out into the middle of the road to hit the drop zone at the right angle.

This is compounded by the fact that i have a 6' high wall along my boundary which is in-line with the bottom of the first dropper so attacking it from one side is almost impossible.

Anyhoo, i recently extended my drive and had it 'macced increasing the entry to my drive to about 15'. This in turn makes my dropper look ridiculous and screams out for a wider drop area.

However i have looked at the rules and figure my six foot high wall coupled with the fact that i have a primary school up the road is a recipe for a straight NO.

My question: Is the fact that i already have a dropped kerb in my favour or will any new application render existing stuff worthless from a planning point of view?

 

[theoldun]

Nose, Can’t be of much help to you,
I only know the basic regs. However you have two things in your favour.
You have an existing drop, and your reason for widening is to improve safety for yourself, pedestrians, children and other road users. Stress the fact you are doing this at your expense for the safety of the children and others. After all said and done this is the truth.
I think that highways would look favourably on that.
old b**ger.

 

[DevilDamo]

Would an application for a dropped kerb also be looked at from a highways/planning point of view in terms of loss of street parking?

 

[theoldun]

Would an application for a dropped kerb also be looked at from a highways/planning point of view in terms of loss of street parking?

Have read many of your most helpful previous posts, young man, and it is quite apparent that you have considerable knowledge with regard to planning and building regs.
You have always been prepared to give an opinion on previous posts, but in this instance you have answered the question with a question.
Would be curious to know the reason why?

old un.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Without a detailed plan of your proposals and a copy of the highways manual your local authority use for their planning it is very hard to say if an application would be successful. As a matter of course, any application to do with revising driveways and entrances etc will be assessed by the highways department and they will arguably have more interest than the planners and the decision will likely be dictated by highways and not by the planners. As mentioned, highways will consider sightlines, available/impact upon parking on and off the driveway, gradients if relevant etc etc. Somewhere noseall, if you've not already done so, you will (more than likely) be able to download a copy of your local authority's roads manual which will tell you what sightlines/gradients etc etc are required. You can obviously judge for your self the effect if any on parking, following that process you should get a good idea as to whether an application is likely to be successful or not. Other than a pre-application application (if your LA allow them) there isn't much else can be done.

 

[noseall]

From my point of view the current droppers are practically useless and by widening the entrance to my drive i have actually encouraged our vehicles to exit the drive a little further away from the obscuring wall.

My preference would be to move the droppers more central and further away from the wall and obviously make then wider.

My concerns are not so much being left with what i have got (worst case) but forking out to both highways and planning in pursuit of a fruitless project.

I also understand the lack of logic and the idiosyncratic nature of local councils so i may have to suck it and see.

Cheers gents.

 

[ColJack]

We'd never condone taking a sledghammer to the kerbs you want dropping then reporting them to the council as damaged due to having to drive over them on a dail basis..

no we'd never condone that..