Every highway authority sets its own fee and publishes it on its own page, so the answer depends on where you live. I opened 24 of those pages on 20 September 2026 and put what they say side by side, each figure with the council's own words and a link. No installer is behind this page and nobody pays to be on it.
You pay twice: a fee to the council, and the price of the work. At the 22 English councils whose fee I could read on their own page on 20 September 2026, applying costs between £50 (Leicester) and £568 (Devon), and 7 of them add a second charge after approval. The work itself is priced per site. The 7 councils that publish a guide figure put it between £1,000 and £3,500; Bradford is the only one that says VAT comes on top, the others do not say. If your road is classified, a planning application comes before all of this.
Sorted by name. The fee is what you pay the council when you apply; the last column is the guide price for the work, where the council itself publishes one. Each council name opens its own page here, with the quotes and the link to the source.
| Council | Fee when you apply | Who builds it | Council's guide price for the work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | £125 | The council builds it | No guide price published |
| Bradford | £120 | The council builds it | around £1,995 |
| Bristol | £357 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| County Durham | £171 | A contractor from the council's list | No guide price published |
| Coventry | £130 | The council or your own contractor | No guide price published |
| Croydon | £163.60 | The page does not say | No guide price published |
| Derbyshire | £160 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| Devon | £568 | Your own accredited contractor | £1,500 to £3,000 |
| Havering | £261 | The council builds it | No guide price published |
| Hertfordshire | £139 | The council builds it | No guide price published |
| Hillingdon | £164 | The page does not say | No guide price published |
| Hull | None named | A contractor from the council's list | No guide price published |
| Kent | £500 | Your own accredited contractor | £1,000 to £2,500 |
| Lancashire | £290 | A contractor from the council's list | £2,000 to £3,500 |
| Leeds | £55.06 | Your own accredited contractor | around £1,500 |
| Leicester | £50 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| Liverpool | £100 | The council or your own contractor | No guide price published |
| Manchester | None named | The council builds it | from £1,575 |
| Nottinghamshire | £52 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| Sheffield | £220 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| Somerset | £388.30 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| Staffordshire | £138 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
| Surrey | £383 | A contractor from the council's list | around £1,800 |
| West Sussex | £215 | Your own accredited contractor | No guide price published |
Most councils quote per site and publish no figure at all. These 7 do. They are guide prices from the authority that approves the work, not quotes, and only Bradford says how VAT is treated.
Bradford, around £1,995. Fixed council prices: a standard crossing is £1,995 plus VAT, an extension £1,596 plus VAT. You cannot use your own contractor.
Devon, £1,500 to £3,000. You choose the contractor. The council expects the work to cost somewhere between £1,500 and £3,000, more if obstructions have to move.
Kent, £1,000 to £2,500. Any contractor with the street works accreditations and £5 million public liability insurance may build it. The council says contractors' prices vary from £1,000 to £2,500.
Lancashire, £2,000 to £3,500. You pick from the council's list of approved contractors. The council says quotes currently run between £2,000 and £3,500 for a standard crossing of 4.5m at the kerb face.
Leeds, around £1,500. You hire your own NRSWA accredited contractor. The council says a standard crossing usually costs around £1,500.
Manchester, from £1,575. The council builds it. A new dropped kerb of roughly 3m starts at £1,575, including up to 2m towards the property; wider or deeper ones cost more.
Surrey, around £1,800. You must use one of the council's approved contractors. The council puts the average build at roughly £1,800.
What usually triggers planning permission
The Planning Portal calls dropped kerbs largely not a planning matter, and lists what changes that: a classified or trunk road, a property divided into flats, structural work for the parking area, a listed building or conservation area, or works taking place in isolation.
"Largely dropped kerbs are not a planning matter; however, in some cases, planning permission will be required, this usually depends on several factors, such as whether:"
"the road is classified or a trunk road"
"the property is divided into flats"
"structural work is required to make the parking area"
"the property is a listed building or in a conservation area"
"the works are taking place in isolation."
"The cost to get permission to drop a kerb varies between local authorities."
When the access itself is permitted development
Forming an access onto a road that is neither a trunk road nor a classified road is permitted development when it is needed for other permitted development. Onto a trunk or classified road the order gives no such right, and that is where planning permission comes in.
"The formation, laying out and construction of a means of access to a highway which is not a trunk road or a classified road, where that access is required in connection with development permitted by any Class in this Schedule (other than by Class A of this Part)."
The driveway behind the kerb
A new driveway of any size needs no planning permission when it uses permeable surfacing or drains to a lawn or border. An impermeable surface of more than five square metres does need permission.
"You will not need planning permission if a new or replacement driveway of any size uses permeable (or porous) surfacing which allows water to drain through, such as gravel, permeable concrete block paving or porous asphalt, or if the rainwater is directed to a lawn or border to drain naturally."
"If the surface to be covered is more than five square metres planning permission will be needed for laying traditional, impermeable driveways that do not provide for the water to run to a permeable area."
Planning Portal, Paving your front garden: Planning permission
What a dropped kerb is
A lowered, strengthened stretch of pavement that lets you drive from the road onto your property. The Planning Portal says driving over the pavement without one is illegal.
"A dropped kerb is a lowered sloping access point in the pavement and is required if you wish to drive over a pavement onto your property, it is illegal to do so without one."
"The process involves lowering and strengthening the verge to protect the pavement itself and any infrastructure beneath."
Anyone may ask, and the council may say no
Any person may ask the highway authority to build a vehicle crossing. The authority may approve the request, change it, propose other works or reject it.
"Any person may request the highway authority for a highway maintainable at the public expense to execute such works as are specified in the request for constructing a vehicle crossing over a footway or verge in the highway, and the authority may approve the request with or without modification, or may propose alternative works or reject the request"
You pay, against a quotation
When the authority approves, it must give you a quotation. Once you deposit that amount you can require the authority to do the work.
"they shall supply him with a quotation of the cost of the works as approved or proposed by them, and he may, on depositing with them the amount quoted, require them to execute those works."
Who may do the work
The work must be carried out by a contractor accredited under the New Roads and Street Works Act, with public liability insurance. Some councils ask for £5 million of cover, others more.
"Work to create a dropped kerb must be carried out by a New Roads and Street Works Act accredited contractor."
"Some councils require £5 million worth of insurance while others require more."
Driving over the kerb without a crossing
Where someone habitually drives across a kerbed footway or verge, the highway authority may serve notice, build a crossing itself and recover the expenses from the owner or occupier.
"Where the occupier of any premises adjoining or having access to a highway maintainable at the public expense habitually takes or permits to be taken a mechanically propelled vehicle across a kerbed footway or a verge in the highway to or from those premises, the highway authority for the highway may, subject to subsection (2) below, serve a notice on the owner and the occupier of the premises"
"may recover the expenses reasonably incurred by them in so doing from the owner or occupier of the premises in question."
Who maintains the crossing afterwards
The section puts no duty to maintain a vehicle crossing on anyone but the highway authority.
"Nothing in this section imposes on any person other than a highway authority any obligation to maintain a vehicle crossing."
Parking across a dropped kerb
In a special enforcement area a vehicle must not be parked on the road next to a footway lowered for vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists. One exception: parking outside residential premises with the occupier's consent, which does not apply to a shared driveway.
"In a special enforcement area a vehicle must not be parked on the carriageway adjacent to a footway, cycle track or verge where"
"assisting vehicles entering or leaving the carriageway across the footway, cycle track or verge"
"The second exception is where the vehicle is parked outside residential premises by or with the consent (but not consent given for reward) of the occupier of the premises."
"This exception does not apply in the case of a shared driveway."
Where the application starts
GOV.UK sends you to your own council by postcode. The service covers England and Wales only.
"A dropped kerb allows vehicles to cross the pavement from the road to a driveway - enter your postcode to find your council's website for more information."
"Available in England and Wales only"
A council without a checked figure gets no estimate here. These seven are listed so you know the gap is mine and not theirs.
Essex. The Essex Highways page has the sentence for the fee but leaves the amount blank: on 20 September 2026 it read that the initial application costs a pound sign and nothing after it, in the page source and in a normal browser alike. The page does say the fee is non-refundable, that a second fee for the road opening notice is paid by your contractor, and that both are outside VAT. Ask Essex Highways for the two amounts before you apply. The council's page
Hampshire. Hampshire County Council's page refused every reading route I have on 20 September 2026, so I could not check a single figure on it. Open the page in your own browser; the fee is a question for the council itself. The council's page
Newcastle upon Tyne. Newcastle City Council's site refused the connection on 20 September 2026, so nothing on it could be read or checked. Try the page yourself, or phone the council for an estimate. The council's page
Wiltshire. Wiltshire Council's page sits behind a bot check that never finished on 20 September 2026, so I could not read the fee. Open the Section 184 vehicle crossing licence page in your own browser. The council's page
Kirklees. Kirklees Council's site did not answer on 20 September 2026, neither the page nor the guidance PDF. Open the council's dropped kerb page yourself; the guidance PDF on it lists the fees. The council's page
Barnet. The London Borough of Barnet's page only returned a bot check on 20 September 2026, so I could not read the fee. Open the page in your own browser. The council's page
Norfolk. Norfolk County Council's page answered with an access refusal on 20 September 2026, so I could not read the fee. Open the dropped kerb applications page in your own browser. The council's page
Every council row comes from that council's own page, opened on 20 September 2026. Each amount and each time limit on this page appears word for word in the quotes on the council's page here. After writing, I opened every source a second time and checked each quote against the fresh page text. Figures that search engines showed for six of these councils turned out to be out of date once the page itself was open, so nothing here comes from a search result. The national rules come from legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK and the Planning Portal, quoted the same way.
Driveway and patio cost: What the hard standing behind the kerb costs per square metre.
Planning application cost: The national fee if your road is classified and you have to apply.
Planning permission check: For the rest of the project: what needs permission and what does not.
Often not, but check the road first. The Planning Portal calls dropped kerbs largely not a planning matter, and lists what changes that: a classified or trunk road, a property divided into flats, structural work for the parking area, a listed building or conservation area, or works taking place in isolation. In law, the permitted development right for a new access only covers roads that are neither trunk nor classified (Schedule 2, Part 2, Class B of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015). Whatever the planning answer is, you still need the highway authority's approval for the crossing itself.
The work must be carried out by a contractor accredited under the New Roads and Street Works Act, with public liability insurance. Some councils ask for £5 million of cover, others more. Several councils go further and only allow their own contractors: Birmingham and Havering say so on their pages, and so does Bradford.
Yes. Any person may ask the highway authority to build a vehicle crossing. The authority may approve the request, change it, propose other works or reject it. That is Section 184(11) of the Highways Act 1980. Refusals are mostly about safety: poor visibility because of corners, walls or obstructions, a spot too close to traffic lights or a junction, or a parking area that is too small. Most councils keep all or part of the fee when they refuse, which is why the criteria are worth reading before you pay.
Yes, the person who asks pays. When the authority approves, it must give you a quotation. Once you deposit that amount you can require the authority to do the work. That is Section 184(12) of the Highways Act 1980. The section puts no duty to maintain a vehicle crossing on anyone but the highway authority.
There is no general free route. If you are registered disabled you may be able to get a grant for some or all of the cost. Your local authority tells you whether you qualify. Birmingham: Blue badge holders may get a discount on a standard 2.75m crossing at the address where the badge is registered.
It depends on the council, and the pages that give a time differ a lot. Birmingham: Quote within 28 working days of the inspection, 2 months to accept it, and at least 16 weeks from full payment to installation. Kent: Decision within 28 days; the approval is good for 2 years. Leicester: Applications currently take 12 weeks; once your contractor is approved you have 6 months to finish. Sheffield: Applications currently take around 10 weeks. Where the council builds the crossing itself, its waiting time for the work comes on top of the decision.
In a special enforcement area a vehicle must not be parked on the road next to a footway lowered for vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists. One exception: parking outside residential premises with the occupier's consent, which does not apply to a shared driveway. That is Section 86 of the Traffic Management Act 2004; whether your street lies in such an enforcement area is a question for your council.