Driveway Gates in Dartford

Dartford Borough Council made an Article 4 direction in 1983 covering 31 to 35 West Hill that removes the right to put up gates, fences, walls or other enclosures, and to alter existing ones (Dartford Borough Council). Related directions with the same effect were made on West Hill in 1980 and in Greenhithe in 1984. West Hill climbs steeply out of the town centre, and its Victorian and Edwardian houses are exactly the kind of frontage these directions were meant to protect.

If your house is covered, a new gate needs planning permission even at a height that would normally be allowed. Expect the council to favour railings or a low painted metal gate over a solid one.

In November 2025 a Kent Police alert, shared by Horton Kirby and South Darenth Parish Council, warned that criminals were targeting cars on driveways in the area, "often using technology to bypass keyless entry systems". Wilmington Parish Council's crime report for March 2026 also listed a car stolen from a driveway.

Relay theft works by boosting the signal from a key fob inside the house so the car opens and starts. An automated gate does not stop the relay, but it does stop the car leaving quickly, and a camera intercom records the attempt. Combine it with a signal-blocking pouch for keys and a steering lock, as the police advise.

Ebbsfleet Garden City is planned for around 15,000 homes across Dartford and Gravesham, and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation handles planning across its area. The borough's own Local Plan, adopted in April 2024, plans for 12,640 homes. Add Ingress Park in Greenhithe and the estates at Castle Hill and Stone, and a large share of Dartford homes are new builds.

New-build frontages are often short and open-plan, and many estates restrict changes to front gardens in the deeds. Where a gate is allowed, an aluminium sliding gate is the usual answer: it needs no swing space, suits a modern house, and does not rust.

The borough's conservation areas are Dartford Town Centre, Church Hill in Stone, Greenhithe, Red Street, Southfleet and Hook Green. Greenhithe also has its 1984 Article 4 direction on boundaries. In these places, painted metal gates on brick piers suit the older houses, and the council will look more closely at anything tall or solid.

South of the town, the villages of Wilmington, Darenth, Sutton-at-Hone and Southfleet sit in the Metropolitan Green Belt. Houses there are larger and drives longer, and a new entrance onto a rural lane is treated more strictly than a replacement gate on an existing drive. Timber gates often sit better than metal on the village lanes.

Swanley sits on the Dartford side of the M25 but falls under Sevenoaks District Council for planning. That matters because Sevenoaks is overwhelmingly Green Belt and applies its own character guidance on front boundaries. If you live in Swanley, Hextable or Crockenhill, direct planning questions to Sevenoaks, not Dartford.

Electric gate repairs come up often in Dartford, and most faults are not the motor. A photocell knocked out of line or covered in dirt stops the gate closing; a gate that has dropped on its hinges binds and trips the motor's force limit; a failed capacitor or limit switch stops one leaf; and a flat battery in a remote looks like a dead gate.

A good repair engineer checks power, safety devices and gate alignment before quoting for a new motor, and resets the force settings to BS EN 12453 afterwards. Ask whether they carry parts for your motor brand, because that decides whether the fix happens on the first visit.

Kent County Council is the highway authority. A new access onto a classified road such as the A2, A225, A226 or A296 needs planning permission as well as dropped kerb approval. Permitted development caps a gate beside a road used by vehicles at 1 metre in height (GPDO Schedule 2, Part 2), and gates may not open outwards over the road or pavement.

The choice usually comes down to two measurements. A swing gate needs clear space behind it equal to the width of each leaf, plus room for a car to stand off the road while the gate opens. On a short new-build frontage that space often does not exist, and a car left waiting across the pavement is exactly what highways officers object to.

A sliding gate needs no swing space, but it needs a straight run beside the opening at least as long as the gate itself, plus a little extra for the motor and end post. On a corner plot or a narrow frontage, that run can be the deciding factor. On the steeper part of West Hill, a swing gate opening uphill may catch on the drive, which is where rising hinges or a cantilever sliding gate earn their cost.