Dropped Kerbs Under Staffordshire County Council: Fees, Standards & Refusal Criteria

Staffordshire County Council is the highway authority for the eight Staffordshire districts and boroughs: Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands and Tamworth. If your property is in Stafford, Stone, Cannock, Rugeley, Lichfield, Uttoxeter, Leek, Penkridge, Eccleshall, Gnosall, Biddulph, Cheadle, Kidsgrove or Newcastle-under-Lyme, this is the authority that decides your application.

Stoke-on-Trent is a separate unitary authority and is not covered by Staffordshire County Council. If your property has an ST1–ST6 city address, see our Stoke-on-Trent City Council page instead.

The application fee is non-refundable, which matters: it is paid whether the outcome is approval or refusal. That is the reason we assess the frontage against the council's own criteria before anything is submitted. The permit-to-dig fee is separate and arranged by the contractor carrying out the works.

Fees correct as of August 2026 — council fees are reviewed periodically and ArcLine will confirm the current figures for your property as part of your quote. See also our full dropped kerb cost breakdown.

There is no fixed statutory timescale for a decision. The council states that a decision usually follows within two to three weeks of the site inspection. In practice the overall programme is longer, because the inspection has to be scheduled first, the permit to dig arranged afterwards, and the works then booked in — with traffic management where the road requires it.

Once granted, approval is valid for three years, so there is no need to rush the construction immediately after approval.

• Parking depth: 6 metres is the desirable depth, with an absolute minimum of 4.8 metres, measured perpendicular to the road. Lateral or in-line parking along the frontage does not count towards this.
• Crossing width: the standard is 2.75 metres. Wider crossings can be requested with justification, and normally only one crossing per property is permitted.

Parking depth is the criterion that quietly rules out a lot of terraced and older semi-detached frontages. It is worth measuring from the back of the footway to the front of the house before going any further.

The council requires a minimum 2-metre set-back pedestrian sightline, and a vehicular sightline distance that scales with the speed limit of the road:

On faster rural roads these distances are demanding, and hedges, walls and parked vehicles all count against them. Where a sightline is marginal, moving the crossing along the frontage sometimes resolves it.

• Gradients generally must not exceed 1 in 12.
• Works must follow the Staffordshire Highways Base Specification, covering excavation and reinstatement, materials and kerb laying, and drainage.
• The crossing must be built to the council's Series 1100 standard detail drawing.
• Contractors must be registered on the council's network and traffic management register, hold £5m public liability insurance, and employ NRSWA-trained and accredited staff.

If you have already had an application turned down, our guide to what to do after a dropped kerb refusal works through each reason and whether a resubmission is realistic.

1. We survey the frontage against the council's depth, width and visibility criteria.
2. Utility asset records are checked before any excavation is designed.
3. The application and £138 fee are submitted to Staffordshire County Council.
4. A highways officer carries out the site inspection.
5. A decision normally follows within two to three weeks of that inspection.
6. We arrange the permit to dig — £271 unclassified, £388 classified.
7. The crossing is built to the Staffordshire Highways Base Specification and the Series 1100 standard detail, then reinstated and presented for the council's sign-off.

Council source: staffordshire.gov.uk — dropped kerbs.