Difficult or impossible- can I convert elevated front into driveway

[Ltj]

Advice very much appreciated - my partner is insisting that there is no way we can convert the front of the house into a driveway. I think it will be difficult- we are directly on the road and the front is elevated/ on a slope. We will probably need planning permission and some structural work/ retaining wall, but neither of us are professionals so knowledge is limited.

 

as can hopefully see from pics, the house is directly on a road. It is a row of 4 houses, with each house frontage becoming increasingly elevated as the road goes downhill. At the moment have to park up the road, and the increase in traffic going at breakneck speed makes the walk to/from the car quite an adventure ( especially in the winter).

[Ltj]

[Onoff]

Not just elevated but inverted! 😂 Here you go. Guessing you'd need to apply for a dropped kerb whatever .

 

Is that raised area "holding back" the house or could it be lowered level with the road / pavement?

 

[ProDave]

My guess is no.

 

You would need to reduce the height of that to be level with the road, which then creates the very real possibility you would be undermining the foundations of the house unless you are SURE they are a lot deeper than that.

 

Then the parking created would be parallel to the house not what is more normal.

 

It's one of those "I would not start from here" situations.  I would never have bought that house because of this issue.

[Ltj]

@Onoff that is the question..the first of the four houses has flat front and parks car. Our old neighbours started flattening their front ( he just built a retaining wall) before they moved. But our is a lot more elevated. I’ve added a pic - hopefully not inverted- which shows another view. 
@prodave- at the time it didn’t seem an issue, I was moving for my job, and there wasn’t a huge amount of choice in my price range…and the road has become increasingly busy the last 10 years. 

[saveasteading]

I'd say it is possible but at huge cost.

The house is almost certainly constructed from that higher level, so would need a retaining wall.

 

Could traffic calming be the solution? 

20mph is simply ignored by many, but a chicane can work.

 

Not that the council will have the funds for it unless there is a history of accidents.

[Ltj]

@saveasteadingthe 20mph is definitely ignored. We have asked for traffic calming previously but I think unless there is an accident t won’t be a priority. At the moment it’s a load of near misses and people beeping their horns at you because you are walking on the road- haven’t really got a choice not to as there is no pavement…

[Jilly]

Could you put ‘citizen’s signs’ up (I just made that up) eg ‘Dogs and children’ or similar, or lobby for one of those solar speed detectors that smiles at drivers doing the correct speed?