Dished/dropped kerbs in front of houses

Hi all, long time reader but first time poster. The information available on this site never fails to impress me, hopefully someone can help me out...

I live in a housing estate in a town in Co Meath. My elderly mother lives with me. She is not as mobile as she used to be but, thankfully, this is due to old age rather than any specific medical condition. To make her life (and mine) a bit easier I would like to be able to get my car closer to the house to allow better access from the hall door to the car.

My mid terrace house has space in front of it that would accommodate 1 car but to get to this space I would have to negotiate a kerb and cross the narrow footpath (about 1.5 ft).

Has anyone any experience of getting the kerb dished/dropped outside their house in Co Meath (or any county)?

Is it an expensive process?

Was planning permission required ?

or

Was it just a case of getting a qualified contractor to certify the work to the satisfaction of the relevant authority ?

Another possible twist is that I am not 100% sure if the estate has been taken in charge by the local authority. If that is the case, where does that leave me ?

thank you
bub

Hi bubbles,

Things are seldom as simple as they seem.
I think you may need to ring your local authority and have a long chat.

Ask what constitutes exempted development for car spaces within the curtiledge of a house in your estate.
In some LA's a driveway for up to two local car spaces may be considered to be exempted development in a house which is already built with full planning permission.

I'm a little surprised your dwelling doesn't already have a car space, but newer developments - including housing estates - may have associated mobility management plans which were submitted in support of their planning application and this may impinge on the number of cars they can support.

If its one of these newer estates built to a higher density and supposedly only with front grassed areas held in common as opposed to fenced in gardens you may have a problem of title as well, in that the space in front of your dwelling may not be yours to do with as you wish and you might check your title documents and Lease or Title Map of the house to determine this.

Either way first stop is the local planning officer to check you don't need permission, then ask which section is dealing with the !taking-in-charge" issue.

If you do need permission then the issue of whether the estate has been taken-in-charge may affect the your application - ownership of the path you wish to traverse may still be vested in either the building contractor or the development company.

If as it seems, you have no implied vehicular access rights to your door across the path, you may need to establish rights or purchase this access from the private owner.

If my suspicions about existence of the mobility management plan and the lack of vehicular access are both discovered to be true, then you should take advice on both from the Council, and you may also need specialist planning and specialised legal advice in order to secure your vehicular access, driveway installation and parking space.

Should all go according to plan you should consider providing a drained and paved area to be used for alighting, sited close to the house.
This should provide a safe and level approach to the front door, or a sloping approach in accordance with the requirements of Part M and Part k of the Building Regulations as amended.

Hope this helps.

ONQ

Many thanks ONQ for your comprehensive answer. It's most interesting and helpful.

The estate is relatively new (circa 2003, I think). Some of the houses - the semi-d's and the detached ones have 'full' driveways with space for 2 vehicles but the terraces don't have any. The space in front of my house is mine but it is similar to how you've described...i.e. no fenced in garden, although some neighbours have retrospectively fenced off their 'gardens'.

I've done a bit of googling on this and all the hits I can get are about UK LA's and the process seems very straightforward there. But it does not surprise me that to do likewise here is a different story.

Has anyone got any success story where they have been able to get a dished/dropped kerb in front of their house?

I would suggest that you get a letter from your Mother's Doctor, Community Welfare Nurse or someone in a similar professional capacity supporting the need (as opposed to want) for this modification. While your other mother is (thankfully) not totally incapacitated I think you will find the planners of more help regarding exemptions with such a letter as it could be argued the needs of the elderly were not considered in the original planning of the estate. I have seen a lot nod and a wink approvals in Meath, most were not in written form more along the lines of a draft sketch of what would be acceptable. I understand you will find the planners in Meath Co. Co. can be very helpful when meetings are more on an enquiry level than having a Councillor going in guns blazing because as soon as a Counsellor gets involved everything becomes very official I's dotted T's crossed etc Try to keep your enquiry on an informal basis to begin with, you have the option to go back with a full application if the softly softly approach fails.
Best of luck.

thanks for the advice Peter C... I have done as you suggested and made some informal, tentative contact with Meath Co Co.

If it all goes wrong, I can blame you! (only kidding )

Still hoping for some input from someone who has successfully completed this process in Meath (or any other county).

I know an estate where the grass margin is very wide before the narrow foot path then the garden walls, people in that estate have "drive ins" and "drive outs" complicated ?
A drive out is where they lower the kerb, concrete the grassed area and park their cars on the new concrete.
The drive in is for the rich they lower the kerb, concrete the grassed area, put a set of gates in the wall, concrete or pave the front garden and drive over the foot path to park in their garden.
That estate is in County Meath and not one person asked the council for permission, that said I don't know of anyone who objected.
If you think the address would help your cause send me a P.M. sometimes its nice to be able to quote a precedent.