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Free checkerWill my dropped kerb be approved?
Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County are two different highway authorities with different rules and different fees. Tell us which you're in and we'll show you what they actually require.
Worth knowing
Nobody can tell you "10 metres from a junction"
Search this and you'll find confident-sounding numbers: 10m from a junction. 1.5m from a lamp post. 4.8m minimum depth. We went through both councils' published policies, specifications and standard drawings line by line.
Neither Nottingham City nor Nottinghamshire County publishes any of those figures. They're imported from other councils' policies and repeated until they look official. Junction proximity, sight lines and street furniture are all assessed case by case by a council officer — there is no number to hit.
We'd rather tell you that than invent a threshold you'd spend money against. What the councils do state is below — and it's all we've used in the checker.
Two councils, two rulebooks
What each one actually requires
Which authority you fall under changes the rules, the fees and the process. Getting this wrong is the most common mistake we see.
Nottingham City Council
A unitary authority — runs its own highways.
- →The driveway must already be built. The city won't approve a dropped kerb application until the hardstanding is in place. This catches a lot of people out.
- →The surface must be permeable and bound. Loose gravel driveways are explicitly not accepted.
- →£160 street works licence (light duty).
- →Your contractor needs street works qualifications and £5m public liability cover.
Source: Nottingham City Council
Nottinghamshire County Council
Delivered through its partner, Via East Midlands.
- →£52 initial assessment (non-refundable), then £80 for contractor consent and the final inspection.
- →Approval lasts 6 months — start the work inside that or re-apply and pay again.
- →Maximum crossing gradient 1 in 14.
- →The drive must fall away from the road, or have a drainage channel on your side of the boundary. No loose gravel near the highway.
- →A standard opening is 5 kerbs (3 dropped + 2 transition).
How deep does the driveway need to be?
There's no stated refusal threshold — but Nottinghamshire's Highway Design Guide is clear that a driveway shorter than 5.5m results in vehicles overhanging the footway, which is the thing an officer is looking for. Treat these as the targets:
| Your setup | Depth to aim for |
|---|---|
| Open driveway, no garage | 5.5m |
| In front of an up-and-over garage door | 6.1m |
| In front of hinged, outward-opening doors | 6.5m |
Short of it? Not necessarily fatal — the design guide itself says falling short “does not automatically mean a proposal will be refused”, as long as cars won't spill onto the highway. It's exactly the sort of thing to get looked at before you apply.
Source: Notts CC Highway Design Guide — residential parking. These are design-guide figures, not a published S184 pass mark.
Where this comes from
Every figure above is quoted from an official council document. Nothing is estimated or borrowed from another authority. Last checked July 2026.
- Nottingham City — creating a vehicle access
- Nottinghamshire County — request a dropped kerb (fees, kerb counts, classified roads)
- Notts CC drawing SD_11_10 — domestic vehicular access (gradient, drainage)
- Notts CC Highway Design Guide — residential parking (driveway depths)
- Highways Act 1980, s.184
A guide only — the highway authority alone can approve a crossing. We'll assess your frontage properly before anyone pays a fee.
Not sure how yours stacks up?
We'll look at your frontage and tell you straight — before you spend a penny on council fees.