Altering your driveway

The Association, through its Trustees, owns the verges to most roads in the Area of Special Character. The exceptions are Middleton Road and Sea Lane. Your deeds set out the ownership and maintenance position for your own property.

Because the estate was built over decades, there is no uniformity in access arrangements. Some properties have a single access, some have in-and-out driveways, some have separate vehicular and pedestrian entrances.

Why we are careful about this

Widening an entrance means taking a piece of verge, permanently.

Verges are what give the estate its open, informal look, and they are also where rainwater soaks away. Every metre lost is a metre of soakaway capacity gone at exactly the point when climate change is making that capacity more valuable, not less. So the Association has generally sought to minimise the loss of verge and to refuse second accesses.

We are also mindful of safety where an access crosses a verge, and of the visual effect on the street, particularly where tall gates and walls are proposed.

But we do recognise the problem

Cars have grown considerably since these roads were laid out.

Most driveways here are 3.0 to 3.5 metres wide, and we have had a number of requests to go to 4 metres or more, particularly in Sea Way and Old Point where properties are being redeveloped or substantially extended.

The Association has a written Driveway Widening and Verge Crossing Policy, ratified at the AGM on 18 November 2024, so that requests are handled consistently rather than case by case. It allows for flexibility where circumstances genuinely warrant it.

What the policy says, in short:

• A second access, vehicular or pedestrian, will not normally be agreed.
• A crossing wider than 3.5m will not normally be agreed.
• Where a request is made, your Road Representative meets the Infrastructure and Planning leads to weigh it against drainage, sustainability, health and safety, the street scene and the Area of Special Character, including any gates or walls proposed.
• You will be told the outcome, and whether consent is refused or granted subject to conditions.
• If a dispute arises, it goes to arbitration by an external surveyor. That was added at the request of a member at the 2024 AGM.

What the Association can and cannot decide

This catches people out, so it is worth being clear.

We cannot decide the type or size of your gates or boundary walls. That is for you and the planning system, having regard to the Village Design Statement.

We can decide whether to grant a right of access over land we own, which is the verge. That is the whole of our control here, and it is why a driveway conversation involves us at all.

Deeds of Grant, and the bond

Where a wider driveway or a new access is agreed, it is formalised in a legal agreement called a Deed of Grant between you and the Association, lodged with the Land Registry. The cost falls to the property owner.

The legal advice to the Association is that any crossing of its land needs to be regularised and recorded, to protect everybody and to avoid the matter surfacing awkwardly when a property changes hands.

A returnable bond is also required before work starts, reviewed annually. It is fully returnable if no damage is done to the road surface, or if any damage is put right to a suitable standard. Current figures are provided to members, and to buyers through their solicitor.

You will also need to install and maintain a physical boundary marking where your property ends and the MOSA verge begins.

Planning permission

You may need it, depending on what you are doing and on surfacing. See building work and planning.

Surfacing matters more than people expect. A driveway that sheds water rather than absorbing it puts that water somewhere else, usually the road.

Drones

If your building work involves photography from the air, such as marketing a finished project or surveying a roof, the Association has a policy covering drone use over the estate. See drones for what it allows and how to seek an exception.