a) Applying for a crossover
Applications can be made online at any time. Alternatively, you can contact the Highways team on 020 8937 5025, Monday to Friday 9am to 4.30pm.
You should include a sketch with your application, which is uploaded as part of the process.
Please note that there is a non-refundable administration fee for providing each estimate, payable on application.
All crossover application forms will be given a unique reference number. Please quote this number if you need to contact us about your application.
The estimate and any application will be valid for a period of six months starting from the date on your estimate letter, after which another application will be required. A new application and fee will be required once the original application has expired.
b) The Council’s Domestic Vehicle Footway Crossover Policy
All applications are processed on their own merits. Approval of an application depends on the property frontage complying with all the requirements set out in the Council’s Domestic Footway Crossover Policy. No previous policy or policies will take precedent to the current policy.
It is important that you refer to the Council’s Crossover Policy prior to applying for a crossover. This will give you a good idea of the suitability of your application. In particular:
i) Use of crossover
Note that the objective of a footway crossing is to provide the resident of the property with an authorised vehicle access across the public footway.
Please do not apply for a footway crossover if you have no intention of using it for vehicle access to your property, as a footway crossover with no allocated space provided in the garden i.e. hardstanding or similar, will not be permitted.
Your proposed crossover and hardstanding should never require your car to project beyond the line of your garden wall and obstruct the footway.
Please note that you must retain 50% of soft landscaping (30% for narrower and shorter front gardens) within the frontage of your property to comply with the Planning Policy and Council’s Green policy.
Sustainable drainage will also be necessary for your hardstanding (where your car will stand), and you will need to use permeable materials. The details of your proposed hardstanding construction and the area of soft landscaping must be shown on your proposed layout on the application form.
Measures must also be introduced to prevent surface water draining from the front of the property onto the highway by introducing a channel at the threshold. All surface water runoff is to be channelled into a soak away.
ii) Forecourt dimensions
There must be sufficient space within the frontage of your property to ensure that a parked vehicle does not overhang the footway and that manoeuvring on and off the highway can be carried out safely.
A vehicle hardstanding should therefore normally be at least 4.8 metres deep by
2.4 metres wide, and be set out at 90 degrees to the road.
4.8 metres is a standard bay length that caters for the vast majority of cars currently on the market. However, there are many commonly owned cars that are less than 4.8 metres long. A crossover may be offered where the frontage is less than 4.8 metres deep, but only if the following criteria are met:
- the frontage is an absolute minimum of 3.8 metres deep, and
- the applicant is willing to enter into a legal agreement that restricts the size of vehicle that can be parked on the forecourt to fit within the available space. This agreement will then be sent to local land charges requesting that a note be made so that it binds future occupiers of the property to the same restriction.
The dimension of the frontage available must be shown on the proposed layout within the application form.
Requests for bays to be parallel to the highway will not be accepted. This would require an unacceptable number of vehicle movements over a footway and possibly cause a hazard and nuisance to pedestrians. It will usually be expected that the vehicle will be able to enter and leave a frontage in one manoeuvre.
iii) Planning permission
The Council’s Crossover Policy explains whether you need to apply for planning consent. If your property does require planning permission the appropriate forms can be found on the Council’s planning web pages on www.brent.gov.uk/planning
Where planning permission is required you are advised to apply for this first. Only after your planning permission has been approved should you submit a completed crossover application to us.
Please note that approval for the construction of the crossover must be granted by Brent Highways Management even if planning approval has been given by Brent Planning, or by appeal through the Planning Inspectorate.
iv) Charges
The crossover has to be constructed by the Council at your expense.
You will also be responsible for all costs incurred in removing, relocating or strengthening any street furniture, utility apparatus or road markings in order to construct your crossover (e.g. lamp post, utility cover box, parking bay).
Note, the reconfiguration of a parking bay will require amendment of the relevant Traffic Regulatory Order (TRO) for which there will be an additional charge.
c) Conservation areas / listed buildings
If your property is situated within a conservation area, consent will be required from the Council for the demolition of any gate, wall, fence or railings over one metre in height if they are adjacent to a highway or public footpath.
If your property is a listed building, consent will also be required from the Council for the conversion of your garden to hardstanding.
The Council’s Planning Service can advise you on all matters relating to listed buildings and conservation areas, please phone 020 8937 5210 during office hours.
d) Council / Housing Association / Leasehold Properties
Tenants will need to supply written confirmation that Brent Housing Partnership, the relevant housing association, or freeholder have no objection to a crossover being constructed to the property.
e) Legal Restrictions / Covenants
In some instances a property may have a clause included in the lease that forbids the parking of a vehicle in the front garden. Applicants should check their lease to ensure that no such clause exists. The Council will not accept any liability for costs arising from its approval of an application where such a clause does exist.
f) What happens next?
On receipt of a correctly completed application form, we will aim to process your application and reply to you within 15-20 working days of receiving it.
Successful applicants will be sent an estimate for the construction of a crossover, and an agreement form to be signed and returned with the payment. For non-routine cases (e.g. where a utility company has to be contacted, street tree has to be removed, or lamp column relocated), it will not be possible to provide a decision within this timescale. Applicants will be kept regularly informed of progress regarding their applications. The estimate letter will also provide details about the methods by which payment can be made.
Upon written approval from the Brent Highways Management and once payment is received in full, location details will be added to the works programme for the contractor who constructs crossovers on the Council's behalf. The aim is for crossovers to be constructed within 6 weeks of receipt of payment.
g) Refused applications
Where applications do not conform to the eligibility criteria, applicants will be informed in writing of the reasons for refusal.
Unsuccessful applicants who believe their applications have not been processed in accordance with the criteria set out in the Council’s Crossover Policy, or that there are exceptional circumstances, have the right of appeal. All appeals will be considered by the Head of Highways Management.
h) Soft landscaping
In the application form “soft landscaping” refers to trees, plants and grassed areas.