Skip to main content
Somerset County Council logo
Menu
Close menu
  • Home
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
  • Births, ceremonies and deaths
    • Births

      Includes registering a birth and ordering certificates

    • Marriages and ceremonies

      Includes ordering certificates and approved premises

    • Deaths

      Includes ordering certificates and tell us once service

  • Social care and health
    • Fostering and adoption

      Includes applying to adopt, becoming a foster carer and private fostering information

    • Carers

      Includes help, advice and support for carers

    • Adult social care

      Includes information for people who are 18 or over who have care and support needs

    • Help to live at home

      Includes equipment, care and support

    • Children’s social care

      Includes help for families and young people

    • Health and wellbeing

      Includes sexual health, preventing substance misuse and healthy workplaces

    • Public health

      Includes health checks, campaigns and mental health support

    • Safeguarding

      Includes protecting adults and children at risk

    • Housing options

      Includes care homes and sheltered housing

    • Specialist Public Health Nursing

      Includes information about health visitors, school nurses and public health nursing

  • Education and families
    • Adult learning

      Includes information about training courses across Somerset

    • Route1 advocacy

      Providing advice and support to children and young people

    • Choosing a school

      Includes information about catchment areas and admissions policies

    • School applications

      Includes information about applying to start school and moving to a different school

    • School life

      Includes term and holiday dates, exclusions and school activities

    • Childcare

      Includes entitlements, the support available and the latest childcare news

    • Fostering and adoption

      Includes applying to adopt, becoming a foster carer and private fostering information

    • Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

      Includes our Local Offer and the services available

    • School transport

      Includes information about different types of school transport and how to apply

    • Children

      Includes employing children, child protection and corporate parenting

  • Roads and transport
    • Problems on the road

      Includes how to report potholes, flooding and traffic lights

    • Signs and streetlights

      Includes speed limits, road signs and how to report faulty lights

    • Parking

      Includes paying or challenging a fine, blue badges and permits

    • Public and community transport

      Includes bus passes and park and ride information

    • School transport

      Includes information about different types of school transport and how to apply

    • Road projects

      We deliver Major Highway Schemes which have been identified through the Local Transport Plan (LTP) process

    • Rights of way

      Includes footpaths, bridleways and open access lands

    • Road works and road closures

      Includes information about plans for temporary and new works and closures

    • Road safety

      Includes how we work to make our roads safer

  • Libraries, community and leisure
    • Planning for Brexit

      What we are doing to plan for the UK leaving the European Union

    • Libraries

      Includes library membership, services and events

    • Volunteering

      Includes how to get involved in community activities and projects

    • Heritage

      Includes museums, records and archaeology

    • Safer communities

      Includes making your home safer and community safer

    • Community initiatives

      Includes community initiatives and community right to challenge

  • Waste, planning and land
    • Planning

      Includes applying for planning permission and reporting unauthorised developments

    • Waste

      Includes waste collections and recycling

    • Property

      Includes information about county farms and our land and building assets

    • Flooding and drainage

      Includes how we support flood prevention and planning

    • Rights of way

      Includes footpaths, bridleways and open access lands

    • Countryside

      Includes Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, walking and cycling

    • Emergencies

      Includes information about planning for emergencies

  • Business and economy
    • Do business with the Council

      Includes current business and contact opportunities

    • Supporting businesses

      Includes registering as a childminder and support and advice for businesses

    • Procurement

      Includes how we procure goods, services and works

    • Licences

      Includes approved premises licenses and permission for decorations on the road

  • Our information
    • Freedom of information

      Includes how to ask us questions about what we do

    • How we use your information

      Includes the information we hold about you and how we protect it

    • Accessing our information

      Includes Data Protection and the re-use of our information

    • Have your say

      Includes petitions and ongoing consultations

  • How the council works
    • Our plans

      Includes the County Plan and the Business Plan

    • Democracy

      Includes Councillors, meetings and elections

    • Our finances

      Includes our budgeting and spending information

    • Partnerships and Trusts

      Includes how we work with other organisations

    • Our performance

      Includes how we set and meet our goals and your feedback

    • Local Government Reorganisation in Somerset

      The future of Local Government in Somerset

  • Jobs and Careers
  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy notices and cookies
Home Roads and transport Dropped kerbs and driveways
BETA

We're changing these pages to make them easier to read, help us improve our content.

Dropped kerbs and driveways

Anyone who wants to make a driveway onto their property, or 'dropped kerb', will need approval from us

  • Apply

  • Approval

  • Your application

  • Downloads

  • Contact

Apply

Please note there is a fee of £218 to cover administration and site inspection costs. This fee is non-refundable.

Please read the specific Schedule of Conditions before completing the form.

Applicants (homeowners), intending to construct a vehicle crossing must contact their Local Planning Authority (LPA), as planning permission may be required. Where required, planning permission must be obtained before submitting this application.

If the proposed works require piping, culverting or obstructs an ordinary watercourse, whether permanent or temporary, it is a legal requirement under section 23 of the Land Drainage Act to seek consent from the relevant authority. More information

The permit is valid for 3 months. Subsequent extensions will require a new application and are subject to a further fee.

This form has 9 pages and will take about 7 minutes to complete.

Apply now

We have recently reviewed the cost of licence fees for applications to work on the highway and for the provision of vehicle crossings over footways and verges. The review confirmed the cost of the licence fees have not kept pace with the costs for administration. Regrettably, this is currently unsustainable. As such, the fees have been raised as detailed below.

The following charges apply to

  • Application for minor works on or near the public highway – subject to planning conditions, for example, a waiting bay – £250
  • Application for minor works (involving excavations) on or near the public highway – £232
  • Application for the deposition of materials (including work equipment, building materials, rubbish and other things) – £50
  • Application for a vehicle crossings over footways and verges (Highways Act 1980, Section 184 Licence) – £218

We will also be making a number of improvements to the way we process licences. They can now be applied for and paid for online – making it quicker and easier to work on the highway network.

Approval

Anyone who wants to make a driveway onto their property (a dropped kerb) will need approval from us as the Highway Authority. This approval takes the form of a Section 184 Licence.

Please contact your District Council Planning Department before you contact us, to find out if you need planning permission to create a vehicle access. If required, you must get this before you submit an application.

If the work requires piping, culverting or obstructs an ordinary watercourse, whether permanent or temporary, it is a legal requirement under section 23 of the Land Drainage Act to seek consent from the relevant authority.

You can find more information on our Consent to work on an ordinary watercourse page.

Anyone who wants to form an access which crosses a footway or a grass verge will need the approval of the Highway Authority and this approval takes the form of a Section 184 Licence.

If the access is onto an unclassified road, planning permission may not be required but the applicant should always check with their local District Council Planning Department.

Access to any other class of road requires planning permission.

To find out the classification of a road you need to contact the Road Records Team.

Your application

We ensure that accesses on to the highway are constructed in compliance with our safety standards and that the work is carried out by contractors accredited to work on the highway.

Please note: we cannot take responsibility for the availability of the accredited contractors to either undertake works or provide a service.

We will then send an acknowledgement letter to confirm your application. Please note you will not be able to start work until you have received a permit.

We will process your submitted application and either issue a permit where appropriate or explain a refusal.

Please note it is the Contractors responsibility to contact the local offices of Statutory Undertakers of any proposed work. They will contact you directly with details of measures they require to protect any of their apparatus which may be affected by your works.

The contractor will have to complete the work before a given expiry date. If the works have not been substantially completed before the expiry date, a new application must be made. A Section 184 Licence runs for three months.

We will inspect the works and issue a certificate of compliance on completion and make sure the works do not conflict with any other work planned in the same location by other contractors.

Downloads

Schedule of Conditions

Road Closure Notice – Application Guidance Notes

Road Closure Notice Application Form

Temporary Traffic Signals Application Form

Highway Management Areas map

Feedback - was this information helpful?

    We will use your feedback to improve this website. Please tell us if we have got something wrong, if there is something missing or if something isn't working.

    You can tell us about this on the complaints, comments and compliments page.



    scc logo

    Built by the SCC Digital Service

    • v1.11
    • Contact us
    • Accessibility
    • Privacy notices and cookies

    We use cookies to improve your browsing experience on our website and to analyse our traffic. By clicking accept, you consent to this. If you do not click accept you can continue to use our website without cookies. If you wish to remove your consent at any time, please clear your local storage.