Most driveway gates in Kent do not need planning permission. The exceptions are specific, and they catch out a lot of homeowners: a listed house, an Article 4 direction, a new access onto a main road, or a gate that is simply too tall. Electric operation is not one of them. The national rules come first, then the Kent layers on top.
The Permitted Development Rule
In England, gates, fences and walls are covered by Class A of Part 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015. It allows a new gate up to 1 metre high where it is next to a highway used by vehicles, and up to 2 metres high elsewhere. A replacement or alteration may be as tall as the old one or as tall as these limits, whichever is greater, so an existing tall gate can usually be replaced like for like.
That is the whole height rule. A 1.8 metre electric gate right on the pavement edge needs planning permission; the same gate set well back inside a front garden, away from the road, may not count as adjacent to the highway. Where a gate sits on the line between the two, ask the council for a view before you order.
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Listed Buildings and Their Curtilage
Class A does not apply within the curtilage of a listed building, or to any gate, fence or wall surrounding one. A gate at a listed house always needs planning permission, and if the work touches the listed structure, such as a historic wall or pier, it needs listed building consent as well. Kent has dense clusters of listed houses in Canterbury, Faversham, Sandwich, Rochester and Tenterden, so this is the most common reason a Kent gate needs consent.
Conservation Areas: The Height Limit Is the Same
A common myth is that a conservation area removes the right to put up a gate. It does not. Class A has no exclusion for conservation areas, so the 1 metre and 2 metre limits apply there exactly as they do elsewhere. The catch is demolition. Taking down an existing gate or wall in a conservation area can count as relevant demolition and need permission, so replacing an old wall with a new gate can bring the whole job into planning.
Councils also expect a design that suits the area, and they will judge any application against that. A painted metal gate matched to the street, or timber in a village, is far more likely to be approved than a tall solid gate across an old frontage.
Article 4 Directions Across Kent
An Article 4 direction removes permitted development rights in a defined area, and many Kent councils use them on front boundaries. Where one applies, even a low gate needs planning permission. Gravesham has thirteen conservation areas where building or altering gates, walls and fences needs consent. Swale's direction covers the whole Faversham Conservation Area. Dover District has directions on gates in Deal's Middle Street, Sandwich's walled town and Dover's Dour Street. Medway controls boundary gates on named streets in Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham, and Sevenoaks District has brought one forward for Kemsing.
Ashford is unusual in having several directions aimed specifically at gates and fences rather than whole areas. The Planning Portal lists Article 4 directions among the conditions that can remove the right, and the only reliable way to know is to ask your district council, because not every council publishes its directions to the national register.
Kent Downs and High Weald National Landscapes
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty adopted the name National Landscapes on 22 November 2023, although the legal term is unchanged. The Kent Downs and the High Weald cover large parts of the county. As with conservation areas, the designation does not remove the 1 metre and 2 metre rights for gates. What it changes is the judgement on any application that is needed: councils in these areas expect gates that suit a rural setting, usually timber or simple traditional metal, and are wary of tall solid gates, oversized piers and suburban-looking entrances on country lanes.
Green Belt and New Entrances
Green Belt does not change the permitted development heights either. It matters when you form a new entrance or put up gates that need permission anyway, because the council then weighs the effect on openness. In 2021 Sevenoaks District Council refused fencing and entrance gates at Knockholt as inappropriate development in the Green Belt, while it approved new gates with pillars at Farley Grange near Westerham in 2026. Keep gates no taller than needed, choose open designs and keep hedges either side.
New Accesses and Dropped Kerbs
Class B of the same Part allows a new access to a highway only where the road is not a trunk road or a classified road. A new entrance onto an A, B or C road therefore needs planning permission. Kent County Council will only process a dropped kerb on a classified road once you have planning permission, or written confirmation from the district that none is needed. In Medway, the unitary council handles both planning and the dropped kerb itself.
Gates Must Not Open Outwards
Separately from planning, section 153 of the Highways Act 1980 says a gate that opens onto a street must not open outwards. The highway authority can serve notice requiring it to be altered, give the owner eight days to comply, and then do the work itself and recover the cost. This is why every roadside driveway gate in Kent either swings inwards or slides.
Electric Operation Is Not the Trigger
Adding motors to a gate does not by itself need planning permission. The planning questions are height, listed status, Article 4 directions and the access. Automated gates do have their own legal duties, under safety law rather than planning law, so make sure your installer commissions an automated gate properly, with force testing and a Declaration of Conformity at handover.
How to Apply and What It Costs
If you need permission, the application goes to your district council, or Medway Council in Medway. You will need a location plan, drawings of the gate and piers, and a short description of materials and colour. The national householder fee for gates, fences and walls is £272 from April 2026. Many installers who work in conservation areas will prepare the drawings for you, so ask whether that is included in the quote, and do not let fabrication start until consent is in place.
If a Gate Goes Up Without Permission
Building a gate that needed permission without getting it is not a criminal offence in itself, but the council can take enforcement action and require the gate to be altered or removed. The usual route out is a retrospective planning application, and Kent councils see these regularly: applications for walls, railings and gates have been made after the work at addresses in Folkestone and Challock, among others. A retrospective application is judged on the same merits as any other, so a gate that would have been refused beforehand can still be refused afterwards.
Unauthorised work also causes trouble when you sell. A buyer's solicitor may ask for evidence that the gate was permitted, and an unresolved breach can delay the sale. If you are unsure whether your gate needed consent, ask the council for a lawful development certificate, which confirms in writing that a project is permitted development.