Dropped Kerb Guide

Dropped kerb rules: minimum sizes, siting and refusals

Every highway authority sets its own criteria, but the same few rules come up again and again. Here are the most common rules, with what councils we've checked actually say. Your council's own policy is what counts.

Check your drive with the eligibility checker

1. Depth of the parking space

A parked car mustn't overhang the pavement, so councils set a minimum depth, measured from the back of the footway to the house (or any wall or bay window).

Council	Minimum depth for parking
Coventry	4.0 m (4.8 m for new homes)
Leicester	4 m
Birmingham	4.75 m
Staffordshire	4.8 m minimum, 6 m desirable
Bristol	4.8 m (end-on parking)
Kingston upon Thames	4.8 m
Gloucestershire	4.8 m (6 m in front of a garage)
West Sussex	4.8 m (6 m in front of a garage or door)
Manchester	4.8 m
Plymouth	4.8 m
Essex	5 m
Hertfordshire	5 m
Devon	5 m
Suffolk	5 m (4 to 4.99 m considered with conditions)
Oxfordshire	5 m
Cornwall	5 m
Leeds	5 m
Bradford	6 m

2. Distance from junctions

Hertfordshire: at least 10 m, and it may ask for 15 m.
Staffordshire, Oxfordshire, Leicester City and Bradford: 15 m.
Devon: 15 m from an A, B or C road junction, 10 m from a minor road.
Kingston upon Thames: a site within 10 m of a junction may be refused.

3. Visibility

Drivers need to see pedestrians as they come out. Hertfordshire wants a 4 m × 2 m pedestrian visibility splay with nothing above 0.6 m; Coventry asks for 2 m × 2 m. Derby lists bends, the brow of a hill and bus stops as unsafe positions.

4. Trees, lamp posts and street furniture

Gloucestershire won't allow a crossover within 1 m of a tree trunk, and Bradford wants 1 m from mature trees and 2 m from new ones.
West Sussex: lamp columns and street furniture must be at least 1 m from the top of the ramped kerb, or be moved at your cost.
Leicester City may refuse where there's a mature tree outside the property.
Moving things costs money: Devon says moving obstacles can cost up to £3,000.

5. Width and number of crossings

A standard crossing is usually 3 dropped kerbs plus 2 tapers (Nottinghamshire, BCP and Bradford describe it this way).
Maximum widths include 3.6 m in Coventry (4.5 m if shared), 4 m in Kingston, 4.6 m in Buckinghamshire (including tapers) and 5 dropped kerbs (4.5 m) plus 2 ramp kerbs in Essex. Birmingham allows up to 8.5 m of dropped kerbs, but considers extensions only up to 4.5 m (5 lowered kerbs).
Second crossings: Leicester City refuses them; Essex allows them only on unclassified roads with 5 m between; Devon allows one per home.

More detail in our guide to widening a dropped kerb.

6. Driveway surface and gradient

In England, a front hard surface over 5 m² must be porous or drain into the garden, or it needs planning permission.
Nottingham City asks for permeable, bound materials (no loose gravel). Suffolk wants a bound surface for the first 5 m.
Birmingham and Hertfordshire want the drive no steeper than 1 in 10.

7. Driving over the kerb without permission

Under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980, if someone habitually drives across a kerbed footway or verge, the highway authority can serve a notice proposing to build a vehicle crossing, or imposing conditions on its use. Councils also act on crossings built without consent: Derby says it may require the highway to be returned to its former condition, and Southend says unauthorised work will be reversed at the resident's cost.

Sources (official, checked 3 October 2026)