What will a dropped kerb cost?
A starting figure before you apply. Pick the crossover width, the ground conditions between the road and your drive, and your region — and we give you an indicative UK price range including the council application fee, with the usual extras broken out. A budget to plan around before the quotes come in. Free, no sign-up. Remember a dropped kerb (vehicle crossover) must be applied for through your council and built by one of their approved contractors.
A guide, not a quote. The ranges are typical 2025/26 UK prices for a vehicle crossover — the kerb-lowering and footway works, plus the council fee, inclusive of VAT — drawn from published averages. They exclude any major utility diversion, retaining walls, a long driveway, or planning fees on a classified road. Every site is different: the only real numbers are your council's published fee and a written quote from one of their approved contractors. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Width and ground set the build; the council sets the rules.
A dropped kerb is a vehicle crossover. It's the lowered section of kerb and rebuilt footway that lets a car cross the pavement from the road onto your drive. It is highway work, so you can't legally drop your own kerb — it has to be applied for through your local council's highways team and built by one of their approved contractors. That approval and that contractor list are the two fixed points in the whole job.
Width and ground drive the build cost. A single crossover for one car lowers a few kerb units and rebuilds a strip of footway; a double or a wide opening lowers more kerb and rebuilds more pavement, so it costs more. What sits between the road and your drive matters just as much — a plain footway is the cheapest, a grass verge to cross adds work, and a steep level change is more again.
Utility covers are the wildcard. If there's a gas, water, telecoms or electricity inspection chamber in the footway where the crossover goes, it usually has to be lowered or moved by the utility company itself — not your contractor. That can add hundreds to over a thousand pounds and weeks of waiting, and it's the single most common reason a crossover blows its budget. Get it checked before you commit.
You need a compliant hard standing behind it. A crossover only makes sense if there's somewhere off-road to park. Most councils won't approve one unless there's a hard standing behind the kerb that meets a minimum depth (often around 4.8 m) and drains so rainwater doesn't run off onto the road — that's a sustainable drainage (SuDS) requirement. If you don't already have a drive, factor in laying or extending one.
The council fee sits on top. Almost every council charges a non-refundable application and inspection fee before any work starts, and the amount varies widely — some also charge for a site visit or a road-opening notice. That fee is separate from what the contractor charges to build the crossover, and you pay it whether or not the application is approved.
Keep your home-project records in one place.
Stead holds the crossover approval, the contractor, the date and the driveway warranty alongside the rest of your property history — so the paperwork's to hand for a sale, a dispute or the next job.