Crossing a Grass Verge to Your Driveway: The Permission You Actually Need

Updated 15/09/2026 · 4 min read

Where a driveway is set back from the road behind a grass verge - common across many Essex estates and East London streets built with wide highway margins - accessing it means crossing that verge, and that's governed by a slightly different process to a standard dropped kerb on a normal pavement.

Why a verge crossing is treated differently

A grass verge that forms part of the adopted highway is still publicly owned land, the same as a pavement, even though it isn't paved. Crossing it regularly with a vehicle requires the same kind of authorisation as crossing a pavement kerb - the verge needs to be properly strengthened to take vehicle weight, not just driven over informally.

The legal route

Under Section 184 of the Highways Act 1980, the council can construct a vehicle crossing over a verge on behalf of a resident who habitually needs to cross it, and recover reasonable costs for doing so. In practice, this usually means submitting an application to your council's highways department, the same starting point as a standard dropped kerb (see our dropped kerb guide), but specifying that a verge is involved.

When planning permission is also needed

Alongside the highways consent, planning permission for the verge crossing itself is specifically required in certain situations, including where the property is a flat, a house in multiple occupation, a listed building, or served by a classified road or sits in a conservation area. A standard single-family house on an ordinary residential street is less likely to trigger this additional requirement, but it's worth checking rather than assuming.

What the work actually involves

• Strengthening the verge itself to take vehicle weight, not just laying a token strip of paving
• The dropped kerb section where the verge meets the road
• Reinstating the untouched portion of verge either side, which councils are often specific about

This is normally more involved, and costs somewhat more, than a standard pavement crossing without a verge, simply because more ground needs proper preparation.

Before you commit to a driveway design

If your property has a verge between the road and your boundary, confirm the crossing can actually be authorised before finalising your driveway plans and materials - discovering afterwards that the council requires a different width or position than what's been built is a genuinely costly thing to unwind.