Rights of Access - Access Issues

When buying a property for self build – be it a derelict house for renovation or a vacant plot without planning, ensuring that suitable access is available is essential.

Rights of access include the legal right to walk or take vehicles from the public highway to your plot of land. The size, shape and location of the access and whether it provides a safe means of getting from your land onto the highway all play a part in the viability of your proposals.

The majority of self build land has a boundary with road frontage to a public highway. Beyond the boundary of the building plot there may be a verge or pavement and then a public road. In some cases access to a plot will be via a private road or a shared drive. The property deeds should specify whether the right to cross this private land to get to the public highway is present.

The ownership of a verge, track or private road can become lost so negotiations to obtain right of access over the land cannot be carried out. Indemnity insurance protects against someone claiming to be the owner. This is something your solicitor or insurance broker can normally arrange for a one-off premium of a few hundred pounds.

Ransom strips

A solicitor search may find a narrow strip of private land separating your land from the highway. These are known as ransom strips, retained by landowners and developers who wish to control or profit from the future development of land.

The asking price for this may be a third of the increase in the value of the land resulting from the plot having access.

Rights of access

A private road may be appealing but you will have to be responsible for maintaining it. The deeds may stipulate the extent of this - be it filling in potholes to a full resurface.

Any planning application will pay great attention to the safety of the right of access to the plot. The highway authority will be consulted by the council to ensure that parking and turning requirements are met.

There should be good visibility up and down the road so that vehicles entering and leaving the property can see and be seen.

Curves in the road, hills, trees can all obscure the visibility and effect the feasibility of planning permission being granted. There are specifications that are followed to ensure a right of access is sufficiently safe dependent on the type of road and the speed of traffic.

Failure to meet the specifications set out by the highways authority does not mean all is lost. Mitigating circumstances, such as a light or slow flow of traffic in the road may help your application through.

Improvement of an existing access may also tilt the balance in your favour.

It is worth noting that the planning officers do not have to follow the highway authority's recommendations. They can overrule their objections if you can make a strong enough case for relaxing the standards.

Details

Looking now at the access drive itself, the highway authority usually prescribe the dimensions and construction of the part between the roadside kerb and the site boundary.

Once into the plot itself the councils are concerned if the drive is very steep. They take a particular interest in long drives and those serving more than one dwelling.

In the latter case, where there's the possibility of cars trying to enter and exit the site at the same time, the council might ask for a double width section of drive (say 5.0 to 5.5 metres wide) for the first 10 metres, to enable two cars to pass.

Long drives must provide suitable access for a fire engine. The council will provide specifications for this, else a consultation with the fire brigade may provide you with the information required.

Parking

The ability to turn as well as park is also required unless located in a quiet cul-de-sac. Adequate turning space can be a challenge on very narrow sites or where the house is to be sited very close to the road. Car turntables are available to facilitate this should there be no way around this.

Access drives, parking and turning areas all take up valuable land of space on a plot and can conflict with trees, hedges or shrubs, which planners might want to see retained. When assessing the suitability of a plot, adequate access is just as important as fitting in the house and garage.

So, always put access high up your checklist when you're looking at plots and conversion opportunities.

For example, have you got a right of access? Is the access safe? Is there room for the drive, parking and turning? Is it going to effect the neighbours, or harm trees? Answer these questions early on, and you'll avoid complications, delays or even a planning refusal.