To get a dropped kerb in Kent, you apply online to Kent County Council (KCC), pay their £500 application fee and, once the KCC approves, hire an accredited contractor to build it.
Before you apply, your borough or district council has to confirm in writing whether you need planning permission. Some dropped kerbs don’t need planning permission, unless your property is on a classified road, but you still have to check.
KCC aims to decide within 28 days. On its own figures, a standard job costs £1,500 to £3,000 including the fee. Allow one to three months before the work can be booked, depending on how your council handles the planning check. At the end of it you have legal off-road parking, a drive you can charge an electric car on, and a crossing built to carry your car’s weight.
Key takeaways
- Apply online to Kent County Council (KCC). The application fee is £500.
- Get written confirmation from your borough or district council on planning permission before you apply.
- KCC aims to decide within 28 days, and you have two years from approval to get the kerb built.
- Budget £1,500 to £3,000 in total, including the KCC fee.
- Your contractor needs NRSWA accreditation and £5 million public liability insurance.
- Allow one to three months before work can be booked.
Do you need a dropped kerb?
You need one if you drive across a pavement or a grass verge to reach your parking space. KCC’s permission comes before any contractor starts work and before you start using a new access point. The work itself strengthens that stretch of pavement and lowers the kerb, so your car can cross without damaging either.
Do you need planning permission for a dropped kerb?
Usually not, but KCC needs the answer in writing from your borough or district council before you apply. Permission is likely on a classified or trunk road, for a house split into flats, a listed building or a conservation area, according to the Planning Portal. It can also apply where the parking area needs structural work, or where the kerb is dropped with no other work alongside it.
Check your road first. On the Find My Street list, classified roads have a letter and number in front of the name, such as A262, and a classified road means a planning application.
Sevenoaks and Dartford publish a letter you complete yourself for unclassified roads and send to KCC with your application. For a dropped kerb application in Ashford, you will need to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness (Proposed Development) for a formal decision on a new access. That certificate should be decided within eight weeks and costs half the normal planning fee.
The drive behind the kerb doesn’t need planning permission if it’s permeable or drains to a lawn or border, according to government guidance and Ashford’s own FAQs. It does if more than five square metres is laid in a traditional surface that drains nowhere. KCC adds a condition of its own: water mustn’t run off your drive onto the highway. We’d build the drive in a permeable surface, or drain it within your boundary, because that keeps it out of planning and meets KCC’s rule at the same time.
How to apply for a dropped kerb in Kent
Measure your frontage before you apply. For a car parked at right angles to the road, KCC’s guidance asks for at least 2.4 metres of width and 4.8 metres of depth inside your boundary. KCC assesses every application for its minimum crossing of four dropped kerbs and two tapers. Then look at the pavement where the crossing would go. A lamp post, tree, sign or utility cover in that spot can mean an extra inspection or extra cost, and the guidance has the distances that matter.
KCC asks for these with your application:
- Your planning permission, or written confirmation from your council that you don’t need it.
- Written permission from the owner, if you don’t own the property.
- A photo taken from the front of the property that shows the neighbouring houses.
- A sketch of where the dropped kerb will go, with measurements and any street furniture marked.
- A debit or credit card for the £500 fee.
The form is on KCC’s dropped kerb page, and creating an account before you start lets you save your progress. KCC then inspects your frontage and aims to give a decision within 28 days. An approval comes as an Approval Notice, and you have two years from its date to get the kerb built.
Any contractor can build it, provided an operative on site holds New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) accreditation for excavation and reinstatement and the firm carries £5 million public liability insurance. Send them your Approval Notice before they quote. KCC tells contractors to price against its approval conditions, because work that misses one fails inspection. Your contractor then applies for the highway permits, builds to KCC’s specification and has to put right any defects for two years after finishing.
How much does dropped kerb installation cost?
Budget £1,500 to £3,000 for a standard dropped kerb in Kent. That’s KCC’s £500 application fee plus the contractor’s price to build it, which KCC itself puts at £1,000 to £2,500.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| KCC application fee | £500 |
| Extra inspection (new access point, or a kerb near a tree or street light) | £76 each, non-refundable |
| Contractor’s price to build | £1,000 to £2,500 (KCC’s figure) |
| Lawful Development Certificate, if your council uses one | Half the normal planning fee |
| Refund if KCC declines your application | £231 of the £500 |
If the application is refused you are partly refunded the £500 fee but will still end up paying £269, so measure up and check for lamp posts and trees before you pay. Anything KCC needs moving or changing to make the crossing safe is your cost too. That could be a street lighting column, a traffic sign, a parking bay that needs a traffic regulation order, or another company’s equipment.
You may pay less if KCC already plans to rebuild your pavement. Look for “footway reconstruction” next to your road on KCC’s forward works programme, then email vehiclecrossings@kent.gov.uk to ask about the reduced rate. If someone in your household is disabled, a grant may cover some or all of the cost, so ask your council about eligibility before any work starts.
If the drive behind the kerb needs laying or relaying, have both priced together, so the levels meet and the drive drains the way KCC requires. Our tarmac driveway installation guide covers what goes into the drive itself.
How long does the whole process take?
Where your council lets you complete a self-assessment letter, you can apply to KCC straight away, and its 28-day target is the main wait before work. Where you need a Lawful Development Certificate, add the eight weeks it should take to decide, which puts you at around three months before a contractor can start.
After approval, the timing comes down to your contractor’s diary and the highway permit they need before working on the pavement.
Book the build well inside the two years on your Approval Notice. If it isn’t finished in time, you reapply from scratch.
FAQs
Can I drive over the pavement to my drive without a dropped kerb?
No. KCC’s permission comes before you start using a new access point, so park on the road until the crossing is built.
Can any builder install my dropped kerb?
Yes, as long as an operative on site holds NRSWA accreditation for excavation and reinstatement and the firm carries £5 million public liability insurance.
Can I extend my existing dropped kerb?
Yes, through the same KCC application. KCC only approves a crossing wider than four dropped kerbs and two tapers if it won’t have a significant impact on parking demand in the street.
How do I check a dropped kerb is legal when buying a house?
Ask KCC. For a fee, it will check its records and confirm through a dropped kerb property enquiry.
Can I charge an electric car at home without a dropped kerb?
Not from the pavement. KCC doesn’t allow cable gullies or cable mats across the highway, so you’d rely on public or on-street chargers.
What happens if KCC turns my application down?
KCC sets out its reasons and refunds £231. If you think it applied the criteria wrongly, you can ask for a review.
Send us your Approval Notice, or tell us how far you’ve got, and we’ll quote for the dropped kerb and the driveway behind it. Get in touch with Ashford Tarmac.
Fees checked against Kent County Council’s published guidance in October 2026. They can change, so confirm the current figures on the KCC website before you apply.