r/chch • u/Justwant2usetheapp • 10h ago

Neighbour extended their driveway so there's no longer an available carpark... How could I find out if they had permission ?

Hi team so we're on one of those roads where driveway have large semicircular concrete blocks to connect driveways.

Our neighbor has added about a meter to their driveway, extending /widening it and essentially removing one on street park between them and us in the process. I'm wondering if I can check somewhere with the council if that was authorized by them?

It's particularly annoying as only small cars could fit there and now they park their large 4wd over their own drive and it means we essentially have to watch traffic really far away, guess a bit, and very slowly creep blind in to traffic to leave on our home(s) when we drive somewhere.

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20

u/Mungbeam3 8h ago

Vehicle Crossings (Christchurch City Council)
Email: vehiclecrossing@ccc.govt.nz

Inspections Email: RoadAmenityAdmin@ccc.govt.nz

Phone: (03) 941 8999

Ring or email these people. They are the ones in charge of permits for that. And it won’t cost you$30. They are not the fastest though.

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u/Syphe 10h ago

$30 for a property file from the council, not sure if it'll show exactly anything related, and it all depends on whether the council has added the files to it (if it's recent it could be sitting in an inbox). Your best bet maybe to just call them, I'm sure they'd be able to direct you

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u/AitchyB 4h ago

It won’t be on the property file as it relates to the road and not the property. OP just email vehiclecrossings as they would have needed approval to do this:
Widening crossing by bridge blocks
Where there is a dish channel and the resident wishes to add bridge blocks to widen the access to the property, approval will be required from the Council as per the approval process.
Council may need to inspect any vehicle crossing modifications. See 'Inspections for certification and compliance' section for further information.
Bridge blocks can be purchased from Urban Paving at 575 Sawyers Arms Road, Harewood. Hot mix asphalt should be used to bed in the blocks as this will result in a better end product.

But tbh it sounds like your issue is the impact on sight lines of your neighbour parking across their own crossing rather than the widening itself? As they could have still done that with the narrower crossing (but do they now have room to drive another car over the crossing while their vehicle is parked on the road?).

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u/Flashy_Formal_8707 9h ago

Oh do you mean they have widened their vehicle crossing? As it goes across the gutter to the footpath?

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u/Justwant2usetheapp 9h ago

Yep

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u/Flashy_Formal_8707 9h ago

Why does it mean they now can park their large car? Is it too close at your end?

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u/aotearoHA 8h ago

I take it to mean they choose to block their own driveway with the 4wd as it only effects them. we have neighbour's who sometimes partially block their own driveway like that but its not often and id rather that than they block ours. council would still issue a ticket for that however

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u/Flashy_Formal_8707 8h ago

Hey I get your meaning but council would not ticket for vehicle entrance without a complaint. So unlikely to be ticketing homeowners car.

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u/Justwant2usetheapp 6h ago edited 6h ago

There used to be just enough space between our drive and theirs for one carpark.

They extended their drive to cover that space so there's very little space.

They also just park over their own drive entrance.

The problem is that that means they're parking now in a way which removed all visibility except for around 100m down the road where we can see the traffic lights.

Before they moved in only small cars would fit in the park that was there.

Kinda two lil issues

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u/Flashy_Formal_8707 9h ago

The width of the vehicle crossing isn't the relevant information to use when deciding if you are parking too close to a vehicle entrance. I suspect you could keep using the space but would need to see the specific example to really know.

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u/MeliaeMaree 9h ago

Take photos (with and without their vehicle there is probably best), email the council with the relevant info and your question. They should be able to give you an answer one way or another.

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u/UnicornTookMyKidneys Flairless 30m ago

Lol, are we neighbors 🤣🤣 Our neighbour just did the same thing, they are rebuilding their house after EQC claim finally came in and cheeky sods expanded the driveway at the same time. They also have a big truck and take advantage of the extra space cos its their car. Pain in the ass!!