Dropping a kerb

[numpty with a crowbar]

Bit of confusion experienced - want to drop the kerb outside my house to fit a drive (cars tend to belt up and down. busses do the same, not a wide road and on a hill etc etc etc. Rang the council for permission to get it dropped only to be told that "only they" can drop a kerb - this is blatently absurd as the people 1 door down have had a groundworker do it (you can tell as they ain't re-fitted the flagstones - just skimmed concrete onto it which looks way better than the rubbish cracked flagstones anyway...

Does anyone know if there's any hard rules about this - I'll be getting a pro to do it at a cost way cheaper than the council will charge, but a bit worried that the council will make me rip it up and then charge me a fortune to do it again - which would be a liberty when you consider the state the gas board have left the street in - even more cracked flags and muck everywhere.... Plus the general neglect on the street that the flamin LA don't want to fix anyway

 

[wedge69]

Dropping a Kerb

Under Section 184 of the Highway Act 1980 members of the public are required to seek permission from the Highway Authority prior to undertaking these works.

I guess therefore that you have to apply from the permission from the council, but not necessary have them do it. Whether they won't give you permission unless you let them do it is another matter.....

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

Whether they won't give you permission unless you let them do it is another matter.....

Cheers for that - just rang them back and asked why they don't allow it even though the highways act says they can just give permission... They're getting a supervisor to ring me back

 

[happyaslarry]

Hi, I had my kerb dropped for the same reason as you 2 months ago. All i had to do was phone the council up and then they came out to inspect the location within a week, it then took about another week for the paper work to come through giving me permision to get the work done they also gave me a price but said i could get someone else to do it as long as they had the right insurance to do the job. The council gave me a price of about £700 but after getting many quotes i got someone to do it for £400. My kerb has now been done and everything is much better.

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

Hi, I had my kerb dropped for the same reason as you 2 months ago. All i had to do was phone the council up and then they came out to inspect the location within a week, it then took about another week for the paper work to come through giving me permision to get the work done they also gave me a price but said i could get someone else to do it as long as they had the right insurance to do the job. The council gave me a price of about £700 but after getting many quotes i got someone to do it for £400. My kerb has now been done and everything is much better.

Just out of curiousity which council was it??? Mines the wonderfully inept Newcastle council - the same council that lost city of culture when it was in the bag, and also stuffed up the love parade many moons ago

 

[Johndug]

I laid a piece of arris rail in the gutter to save the tyres, but it hadn't been there more than a couple of days before the council wrote threatening legal action and an offer to do the work. They insisted that they did it.

 

[jray]

My council (Ealing) insisted that a council-approved contractor did ours, and there was only one contractor on the list ...

It cost us approx £900 last year for a 3m kerb-drop . The front is no longer an eyesore and the smug feeling of having a guaranteed space outside our house more than makes up for cost, esp when it's raining, we've been shopping and the little one's fallen asleep in the car, and the world and his wife have come to visit their relatives and have parked in every possible space.

It obviously differs btw councils, as I think Ealing are quite strict about kerb drops, and threaten legal action if you cause any damage when mounting the pavement.

 

[mike004]

>It cost us approx £900 last year for a 3m kerb-drop<

Agreed, it will save you lots of hassle and will probably add to the value of your house.

But it sounds costly. How much work is involved -- how many workmen did it take and what is involved?

1) Dig out old kerb
2) Bash down middle section?
3) Fit new kerbs.

I'm sure its not that simple, though....

 

[happyaslarry]

Hi, Yes my kerd was done through Market Harborough council

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

Still waiting for the council to contact me about the whole drop thing but the price when you think about it is scandalous - the actual kerb stones must be 30-50 odd quid at most, plus say 15 quid for mortar / concrete - that means that if it comes to say 700 quid the cost of materials is about 600 dak It'll take 2 labourers (3 at a push) an hour or so to do it (maybe 2), so that's another 100 quid max - therefore council makes 500 quid off you... Exactly what do we pay taxes for

 

[jray]

Yes, the cost is/was outrageous, esp as they wouldn't do it until we'd completed our block paving (for a neater join I guess). Didn't take them long to do it either... Nice work if you can get it

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

Well - got a visit from a council gaffer last night, and after a lot of haggling due to an underground BT box being (almost) in the path of my proposed drive, I've got the price down to 350 quid for the job..... Tightwad council don't let anybody else do it due to "insurance" issues (yeah right) yet for some reason the council along to road do let contractors do it....
*Racket anybody??*

 

[masona]

Tightwad council don't let anybody else do it due to "insurance" issues (yeah right) yet for some reason the council along to road do let contractors do it....
*Racket anybody??*

I has this problem a few years ago where I could of done a better job than the contractors. I think the trouble is that the council do not know what their standard of work if people do it themselves, in some way I can see their point as they are some doggy diy out there, I have seen people using pit sand/cement for the running area

I asked the contractors why is it only you lot can do it, the answer was they have a insurance liability which is covered if motorist have accident because there was a known cases when a cyclist hit a lose concrete lump on the road from a diy made running, come off his cycle then the car behind killed him.

Around here a average price is over £1,000, I'm in a wrong job!

 

[numpty with a crowbar]

I have seen people using pit sand/cement for the running area

Now admittedly that's sketchy, but why oh why can't councils just have an inspection scheme - if it's a bodge job then they should consider sending in the contractors to fix and charge the owner for the making good, but they shouldn't penalise the majority just because the odd clampet can't tell his concrete from his cement - unless it is a genuine racket hiding behind alleged "concern" for the well-being of the ordinary punter

I asked the contractors why is it only you lot can do it, the answer was they have a insurance liability which is covered if motorist have accident because there was a known cases when a cyclist hit a lose concrete lump on the road from a diy made running, come off his cycle then the car behind killed him.

This sort of thing would hold water from the councils perspective if they maintained all roads to a perfect standard, but it's really hypocritical of them when you see the state they leave many roads in (I've bounced through / around pot holes 4 inches deep before), and when you see the state of the pavements / roads around my gaff (pavement is concrete and has the look and feel of crazy paving - plus it wobbles like mad and it's an ambulance chasers dream) you wonder how much brasso they use keeping their collective neck all buffed up and shiny

 

[masona]

Yep, agree with you, it's just another rip-off money making scheme.