Vehicle crossover (dropped kerbs)

• Construction 
• Planning permission 
• Costs 
• Apply for a vehicle crossover

See also: report a vehicle blocking your driveway.  

If you wish to drive over a pavement to park in your driveway, under the Highways Act 1980, you must have a vehicle crossover.   

A vehicle crossover is the sloped area where the vehicle crosses from the road to the driveway. 

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Construction 

All vehicle crossovers are built by our highways maintenance team. 

This ensures proper construction. 

Conditions of construction 

Certain conditions must be met before construction can start: 

1. The minimum depth from the back of the pavement to your building line must be 4.80 metres. 
2. There must be a suitable opening in your boundary wall or fence to allow access to the parking space or garage. 
3. Where gates are installed, they must not open outwards onto the pavement. 
4. All driveways must be built before construction of the vehicle crossover. This ensures the new crossover isn’t damaged by building the driveway. 

Access bars (white line across dropped kerb) 

Important: we do not paint or repaint access bars (white lines) across dropped kerbs. 

Sustainable driveways 

Increased rainfall can leave street drains struggling to cope. When this happens, the water can go back into the front drive and flood homes. 

For this reason: 

• remove as little of your soft garden as possible 
• use permeable paving 
• keep hard surfaces to a minimum 

For further information and guidance, please see: 

• RHS: front gardens: designing (external site) 
• RHS: front gardens: permeable paving (external site) 

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Planning permission 

Planning permission is required if the: 

• crossover is directly on a classified road – search our highways register to confirm if a road is classified 
• property is a listed building 
• property is not a house, for example a flat, maisonette or commercial premises 
• proposed hard standing is more than 5 square metres of non-permeable surface 
• property is in a conservation area – view our conservation areas – and  
  • work includes removing a front wall which is higher than 1 metre 
  • there is an Article 4 direction 

Obtaining planning permission 

If your property falls into one of the above categories, planning permission is required. 

To submit a planning application, please see our planning application section. 

Further advice 

Applicants are strongly advised to talk to our planning team. They’ll give further guidance and advice so the proposed works fit in with the surroundings.  

Council tenant 

If you are a tenant in a council property you must get permission from your area housing office. 

Lawful development certificate 

We recommend that before carrying out any works you apply for a Lawful development certificate (external link). 

This will: 

• provide peace of mind should you later want to sell your property 
• be helpful in answering queries from potential buyers or their legal representatives 

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Costs 

Engineer inspection £317.20.  

Estimate of costs 

The cost of a vehicle crossover depends on several factors including: 

• building materials needed 
• modifications to traffic management orders 

To give you a rough idea of costs, the 

• average cost of construction is £2,700 
• lowest cost of construction is £1,550 
• highest cost of construction is £16,000 

Additionally, the inspection may identify utilities (eg water pipes) that must be moved. If this happens, you: 

• must separately contact the utilities companies to arrange this 
• are responsible for any charges incurred 

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Apply for a vehicle crossover 

Please read our vehicle crossover guidance notes (PDF, 199KB) before making your application. 

When you’re ready, please complete the online form: 

Apply for a crossover/dropped kerb 

If you’re applying for planning permission, please let us know the reference number and date when obtained. 

Processing your application 

After receiving your application, a project engineer will arrange a site inspection. 

If any utility services are found in the pavement, we will inform the utility company. You are liable for any utility charges. 

About 6 weeks after receiving your form, we will let you know the estimated cost. 

Full payment is needed before work can start. We may need a further deposit if extra work is needed and likely to incur further costs. 

When the work is finished, if the costs are greater than the estimate, you will be invoiced for the extra amount. If the costs are less, you will be refunded the overpayment. 

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