Help please!
I have a shared driveway with our neighbour which the driveway was already there when purchasing the land from the developer in a new estate. We have front facing houses with rear garages on a secondary road that has a shared driveway
The driveway is 3metres wide and we both have a 1.5m easement owning it. We own 1.25 metres to one side of the driveway which has been planted out and fenced on the boundary to another neighbour.
Our dispute is that on the side they own they don't believe they need to leave a metre or any gap between the driveway and their fence.
18months ago we went through the same scenario with the previous owners and were told by council to refer to the DCP and they had to leave a metre. If they put a fence up within that metre we would make a complaint to council and they would take it down.
it seems you get different answers to who you speak to and I wanted to seek some advice before I go back to council and confirm.
Here are the points we refer to in the DCP:
Point 1 |Reference | Chapter B1: Residential Development 4.10.2.9
1. Driveways shall be separated from side boundaries by a minimum of 1 metre.
Point 2
Battle axe lots | Reference | Chapter B2: Residential Subdivision 6.4.5
- The minimum access corridor width for a battle axe allotment shall be 5 metres with a minimum road pavement width of 3 metres for the entire length of the access handle.
- A 1 metre wide landscaping strip shall be provided along each side of the required 3 metre wide road pavement. The landscaping strip shall be planted with suitable small trees, shrubs and groundcovers.
- A shared access corridor may be permitted for a maximum of two (2) battle axe allotments where, in the opinion of Council, the proposed access arrangement will satisfactorily cater for safe vehicular and pedestrian access to each of the lots and that satisfactory sight line distances are available between the subject lots and the public road.
- Any access corridor shared between two (2) battle axe allotments must be created through reciprocal rights of carriageway under Section 88B of the Conveyancing Act 1919. The minimum shared access handle width shall be 5 metres with a minimum road pavement width of 3 metres for the entire length of the access handle. However, the shared access handle must be designed wide enough to satisfactorily cater for the placement of garbage and recycling bins (ie associated with the dwellings on the two battle axe lots) adjacent to the access handle road pavement
- A minimum 1 metre wide landscaping strip must be provided along each side of the required 3 Part B – Land Use Based Planning Controls Chapter B2: Residential Subdivision 10 Wollongong Development Control Plan 2009 metre wide road pavement of any shared access handle. The landscaping strip shall be planted with suitable small trees, shrubs and groundcovers. A hard stand area on one side of the access handles for garbage and recycling bins (ie directly abutting the public road reserve). The opposite 1 metre wide landscaping strip in the shared access handle shall include letterboxes for the two lots (ie. directly abutting the public road reserve).
Our neighbours argue that Point 1 doesn't apply because its not a boundary as they own half the driveway & point 2 doesn't apply because we have duel frontages and technically not a battle axe. Which we I agree with as it wasnt stipulated when we purchased the land. They seem to say that council agree and their solicitor has advise just to leave 10mm from the driveway and they can pop the fence up.
We believe that they need to leave a metre in line with the battle axe requirements as our planted strip benefits their turning and their strip benefits our turning strip but outside of papers we got for the land referencing the 1.5meter easement and referencing the conveyancing act which is also noted in the the battle-axe points above in the DCP I cant find anything solid to tell them or council that they cant.
Council also bought out a separate set of guideline specific for our road and the duel access.
Chapter D16: West Dapto Release Area 14.3.3
But it seems since this was created the developer made further changes and added extra blocks of land and created these shared driveways- so there is no reference to driveway requirements.
I honestly don't understand how one side of the fence was clearly left to have a metre and the other side doesn't have to. There is so much risk of running into the fence when reversing down the driveway.
If you can point me in any direction of how to find out what is legal that would be extremely helpful.
Thanks
I have a shared driveway with our neighbour which the driveway was already there when purchasing the land from the developer in a new estate. We have front facing houses with rear garages on a secondary road that has a shared driveway
The driveway is 3metres wide and we both have a 1.5m easement owning it. We own 1.25 metres to one side of the driveway which has been planted out and fenced on the boundary to another neighbour.
Our dispute is that on the side they own they don't believe they need to leave a metre or any gap between the driveway and their fence.
18months ago we went through the same scenario with the previous owners and were told by council to refer to the DCP and they had to leave a metre. If they put a fence up within that metre we would make a complaint to council and they would take it down.
it seems you get different answers to who you speak to and I wanted to seek some advice before I go back to council and confirm.
Here are the points we refer to in the DCP:
Point 1 |Reference | Chapter B1: Residential Development 4.10.2.9
1. Driveways shall be separated from side boundaries by a minimum of 1 metre.
Point 2
Battle axe lots | Reference | Chapter B2: Residential Subdivision 6.4.5
- The minimum access corridor width for a battle axe allotment shall be 5 metres with a minimum road pavement width of 3 metres for the entire length of the access handle.
- A 1 metre wide landscaping strip shall be provided along each side of the required 3 metre wide road pavement. The landscaping strip shall be planted with suitable small trees, shrubs and groundcovers.
- A shared access corridor may be permitted for a maximum of two (2) battle axe allotments where, in the opinion of Council, the proposed access arrangement will satisfactorily cater for safe vehicular and pedestrian access to each of the lots and that satisfactory sight line distances are available between the subject lots and the public road.
- Any access corridor shared between two (2) battle axe allotments must be created through reciprocal rights of carriageway under Section 88B of the Conveyancing Act 1919. The minimum shared access handle width shall be 5 metres with a minimum road pavement width of 3 metres for the entire length of the access handle. However, the shared access handle must be designed wide enough to satisfactorily cater for the placement of garbage and recycling bins (ie associated with the dwellings on the two battle axe lots) adjacent to the access handle road pavement
- A minimum 1 metre wide landscaping strip must be provided along each side of the required 3 Part B – Land Use Based Planning Controls Chapter B2: Residential Subdivision 10 Wollongong Development Control Plan 2009 metre wide road pavement of any shared access handle. The landscaping strip shall be planted with suitable small trees, shrubs and groundcovers. A hard stand area on one side of the access handles for garbage and recycling bins (ie directly abutting the public road reserve). The opposite 1 metre wide landscaping strip in the shared access handle shall include letterboxes for the two lots (ie. directly abutting the public road reserve).
Our neighbours argue that Point 1 doesn't apply because its not a boundary as they own half the driveway & point 2 doesn't apply because we have duel frontages and technically not a battle axe. Which we I agree with as it wasnt stipulated when we purchased the land. They seem to say that council agree and their solicitor has advise just to leave 10mm from the driveway and they can pop the fence up.
We believe that they need to leave a metre in line with the battle axe requirements as our planted strip benefits their turning and their strip benefits our turning strip but outside of papers we got for the land referencing the 1.5meter easement and referencing the conveyancing act which is also noted in the the battle-axe points above in the DCP I cant find anything solid to tell them or council that they cant.
Council also bought out a separate set of guideline specific for our road and the duel access.
Chapter D16: West Dapto Release Area 14.3.3
But it seems since this was created the developer made further changes and added extra blocks of land and created these shared driveways- so there is no reference to driveway requirements.
I honestly don't understand how one side of the fence was clearly left to have a metre and the other side doesn't have to. There is so much risk of running into the fence when reversing down the driveway.
If you can point me in any direction of how to find out what is legal that would be extremely helpful.
Thanks