Question 1

How do I get a dropped kerb in Macclesfield?

Accepted Answer

Apply to Cheshire East Council for consent under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980. The council decides whether it is acceptable on safety grounds, sets the construction specification, and in most cases requires an approved contractor to do the work. Allow weeks, and considerably longer if utility apparatus has to be moved. The pavement and the kerb outside your house belong to the highway authority, not to you, and driving a vehicle across a footway without a proper crossover is an offence. It is also a practical problem — a footway is built for people, and repeatedly driving over it cracks the flags, damages the kerb and can break the buried services underneath. The council's decision is about road safety rather than convenience. It will look at visibility in both directions, the width and gradient of the access, proximity to a junction, a bus stop, a pedestrian crossing or a street tree, whether losing an on-street parking space is acceptable, and what is buried under the footway. Applications can be and are refused, so it is worth establishing the position before designing a drive around it. There is a second consent that catches people out. Where the drive comes out onto a classified road — an A, B or C road — planning permission is required in addition to the highway consent, because the permitted development right covering a new access does not extend to classified roads. On an ordinary unclassified residential street the section 184 consent alone is normally enough. The construction is specified by the council and is heavier than most people expect: the existing kerb taken out, dropped and transition kerbs set on a concrete bed and haunch, the footway construction strengthened to take vehicles, and the surface reinstated to the council's specification. In most cases the work has to be done by a contractor the council has approved to work in the highway. The timetable is the thing to plan around, and utilities are the usual reason it slips. A gas, water or electricity chamber sitting exactly where the crossover has to go means that utility company sets its own programme and its own price, which can add months and real cost. Start the application well before the drive is booked, not in the same week the blocks arrive. One local note. On the silk-era terraced streets in and around the centre — which the Macclesfield Character Assessment describes as built hard up against the pavement edge — there is frequently no private frontage to drive onto at all. Where that is the case, no crossover is going to be granted, because there is nowhere for it to lead. It is worth getting that answer early rather than after a design has been drawn up.

Question 2

Dropped kerb application Cheshire East

Accepted Answer

Apply to Cheshire East Council for consent under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980. The council decides whether it is acceptable on safety grounds, sets the construction specification, and in most cases requires an approved contractor to do the work. Allow weeks, and considerably longer if utility apparatus has to be moved. The pavement and the kerb outside your house belong to the highway authority, not to you, and driving a vehicle across a footway without a proper crossover is an offence. It is also a practical problem — a footway is built for people, and repeatedly driving over it cracks the flags, damages the kerb and can break the buried services underneath. The council's decision is about road safety rather than convenience. It will look at visibility in both directions, the width and gradient of the access, proximity to a junction, a bus stop, a pedestrian crossing or a street tree, whether losing an on-street parking space is acceptable, and what is buried under the footway. Applications can be and are refused, so it is worth establishing the position before designing a drive around it. There is a second consent that catches people out. Where the drive comes out onto a classified road — an A, B or C road — planning permission is required in addition to the highway consent, because the permitted development right covering a new access does not extend to classified roads. On an ordinary unclassified residential street the section 184 consent alone is normally enough. The construction is specified by the council and is heavier than most people expect: the existing kerb taken out, dropped and transition kerbs set on a concrete bed and haunch, the footway construction strengthened to take vehicles, and the surface reinstated to the council's specification. In most cases the work has to be done by a contractor the council has approved to work in the highway. The timetable is the thing to plan around, and utilities are the usual reason it slips. A gas, water or electricity chamber sitting exactly where the crossover has to go means that utility company sets its own programme and its own price, which can add months and real cost. Start the application well before the drive is booked, not in the same week the blocks arrive. One local note. On the silk-era terraced streets in and around the centre — which the Macclesfield Character Assessment describes as built hard up against the pavement edge — there is frequently no private frontage to drive onto at all. Where that is the case, no crossover is going to be granted, because there is nowhere for it to lead. It is worth getting that answer early rather than after a design has been drawn up.

Question 3

How do I get a vehicle crossover?

Accepted Answer

Apply to Cheshire East Council for consent under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980. The council decides whether it is acceptable on safety grounds, sets the construction specification, and in most cases requires an approved contractor to do the work. Allow weeks, and considerably longer if utility apparatus has to be moved. The pavement and the kerb outside your house belong to the highway authority, not to you, and driving a vehicle across a footway without a proper crossover is an offence. It is also a practical problem — a footway is built for people, and repeatedly driving over it cracks the flags, damages the kerb and can break the buried services underneath. The council's decision is about road safety rather than convenience. It will look at visibility in both directions, the width and gradient of the access, proximity to a junction, a bus stop, a pedestrian crossing or a street tree, whether losing an on-street parking space is acceptable, and what is buried under the footway. Applications can be and are refused, so it is worth establishing the position before designing a drive around it. There is a second consent that catches people out. Where the drive comes out onto a classified road — an A, B or C road — planning permission is required in addition to the highway consent, because the permitted development right covering a new access does not extend to classified roads. On an ordinary unclassified residential street the section 184 consent alone is normally enough. The construction is specified by the council and is heavier than most people expect: the existing kerb taken out, dropped and transition kerbs set on a concrete bed and haunch, the footway construction strengthened to take vehicles, and the surface reinstated to the council's specification. In most cases the work has to be done by a contractor the council has approved to work in the highway. The timetable is the thing to plan around, and utilities are the usual reason it slips. A gas, water or electricity chamber sitting exactly where the crossover has to go means that utility company sets its own programme and its own price, which can add months and real cost. Start the application well before the drive is booked, not in the same week the blocks arrive. One local note. On the silk-era terraced streets in and around the centre — which the Macclesfield Character Assessment describes as built hard up against the pavement edge — there is frequently no private frontage to drive onto at all. Where that is the case, no crossover is going to be granted, because there is nowhere for it to lead. It is worth getting that answer early rather than after a design has been drawn up.

How do I get a dropped kerb in Macclesfield?

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