Paving your Front Garden

Planning permission

From 1 October 2008 new rules have applied for householders wanting to pave over their front gardens.

You will NOT need planning permission if a new driveway uses permeable (or porous) surfacing which allows water to drain through, such as gravel, permeable concrete block paving or porous asphalt, or if the rainwater is directed to a lawn or border to drain naturally.

If the surface to be covered is more than five square metres planning permission will be needed for laying traditional, impermeable driveways that do not control rainwater running off onto roads.

Building Regulations

Building Regulations do not generally apply. However, you will need to make sure that any alterations do not make access to the dwelling any less satisfactory than it was before.

So, for example, changing levels to introduce steps where none existed before would be a contravention of the regulations.

Dropping kerbs - If you are making a new access into the garden across the footpath you will need to obtain permission from the local council to drop the kerbs and the pavement may need strengthening. This is to protect any services buried in the ground such as water pipes.

SUDS

SUDS stands for Sustainable Underground Drainage Systems or Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems: a sequence of management practices and control structures designed to drain surface water in a sustainable fashion.

Due to the increased risk of flooding the government has brought in new legislation to protect downstream areas at risk from flooding for new developments.

The responsibility for provision, operation and maintenance of SUDS is not clearly set out yet. Each authority draws up its own plans for areas at risk, these are based on judgements rather than strict regulations, so you will need to contact your local authorities planning office to gain advice and guidelines on individual planning applications which might incur groundwork which effect land drainage.