Removing a boundary wall

[Hamish]

We have a wall leading onto a shared acess 'road' at the rear of our property. Like others we would like to remove it to make some parking. The house is freehold. Do we need permission for this?

The reason I am posting is that the rear neigbours say that other owners have tried to remove the wall previously and were ordered to rebuild it. I am unsure if the property was freehold or leasehold at that time though. An suggestions?

[Hamish]

Sorry I am in the UK (england) forgot that bit!

[raysparx]

Hi Hamish,

I would get onto the planning department in the Council,if you are creating off road parking I think you will need planning permission, I could be wrong but I think that is correct ,just give them a ring,they are normally pretty helpful,if he comes out just ask him what he would do,they like to give information,and will then guide you through procedure,good luck, Ray

PS, I don't see that leasehold or Freehold is an issue,unless in the lease there is a clause about it.

[Catso]

I would think the only way freehold/leasehold would affect it would be if the leasees wanted to create the new parking and the leaser didn't want them to.

Now you have the freehold, there's unlikely to be any reason why you can't proceed. The only possibility would be some sort of restriction (which would be on your deeds) as to access.

Someone near us recently created a caravan parking space in his back garden and he didn't require planning permission. Or so he said!

[buildersmate]

I think Ray is closer to the mark on this one. Talk to the Planning department. The issue is likely to be the new access onto the road at the back. This is a Highways issue, who advise the Planning people whether it is OK. What they will be bothered about is whether there is potential for accidents as you emerge from the access. There are rules about sight lines (the distance you can see down the road each way as you emerge. If this is a tiddly cul de sac, that may not be an issue.
What sort of road is it? - just a cul de sac access road or does it go through? Also do you know if it is adopted - that will have a bearing on whether you can do this. Good luck

[Catso]

The bloke I referred to just did it. No planning permission, no reference to the planning department, or whoever. That's what he told me, anyway. It doesn't mean to say it was all 'legit' though, I suppose. Dropping the curb was done by local builders. This was on a quiet cul-de-sac estate road. Oh, and he is a ex-council employee.

[teag1rl]

If you want to do it legitimately and it is an adopted road, you need a licence from Highways or Streetworks dept of council. If it is a cul de sac I doubt you'd need planning permission-this is only necessary for class C roads and above. However you might get away with it- Sometimes best just to do these things and if you do a good job of it there's less chance of getting caught but beware of services laid in highway, condition of licence would probably be contacting all the utility companies and notifying them so you dont dig up a BT cable or something.

[Hamish]

The road is not a public highway but access to the rear of all the houses and is jointly owned by all the houses.
Sound like I'd best check with planning though. Thanks folks!