Driveway to side of house and legislation

[Stephen H]

I'm replacing a concrete slab driveway with block paving. The concrete driveway drained to the highway to the side of the house, not the front of the house. We live on the corner so there are roads to front and side and our address (and the front garden and front door) is on the road that doesn't have a driveway. Since the driveway is not between the "principle" elevation and a highway, can I avoid installing drainage? I know its OK for a patio area but that wouldn't normally drain to a highway I guess... Is this a grey area? By the literal wording of the legislation, it looks like I'm OK without installing a soakaway. However, the house will be sold when things pick up and I don't want some surveyor saying it doesn't comply.

Cheers - Steve

[Tony McC]

Like so much else with the comedy legislation, the definition of a 'front garden driveway' is vague and ambiguous.

In truth, the only persons that can decide whether your planned driveway falls within the remit is your local council, and recent experiences suggest that many councils are adopting the attitude of: "if in doubt, make them pay the 150 quid for planning permission".

So: the answer is that you'll need to get an 'opinion' from the BCO for your area.

[vortex]

Hi

I have a similar query - however both my house and drive are sideways on to the pavement / road with no other access points.

I perhaps should generate an image and post it here to clarify?

Currently the drive is tarmac with a soil border along its length.

[vortex]

OK - here's a plan of my house.

As you can see it's sideways on - so I've no idea how to interpret the rules in relation to my property!
The driveway slopes very gently to a slim garden border on the left of the plot.
What part of this would constitute a driveway to the front of the house ???

[lutonlagerlout]

as it leads on to the pavement ,i'm pretty sure they would say that it comes under legislation
have you a border to the right side as well?
LLL

[vortex]

have you a border to the right side as well?
LLL

Yes to the right as well apart from the path leading to my front (side!) door.

[sewer_rat]

I got in touch with the local building control office and was told that any drive way down the side of the house was fine i.e have what you want.
What they were interested in and would need planning permission for was any area in front of the house being covered with a hard surface.
So it was basically anyone digging all the front garden up to make it into a car park.

I've been looking through all the legislation and it looks as if some BCO's are being realistic and some are not and going by the book.

I was also told that if you had created a car park in your front garden years ago and now need to relay it for what ever reason that you'll now need permission as people thought that as they already had a hard surface down they didn't need to apply.

I have noticed despite all the new rules it hasn't stopped anyone were i live having conventional block paving laid on the entire frontage of their property with hardly any drainage going in and most just draining to the highway.

I've spoken to loads of builders who lay flags and block paving etc who haven't heard of any new legislation and an odd few who have heard but won't tell customers because they'd loose the job.

[DNgroundworks]

To be honest everyone round here is just doing as they have always done, i just put it to the client as an option and explain what it is all about (SUDS)- and its going to cost extra £££'s, Then once they have decided what they want, its sign on the dotted line time..............with a disclaimer

[Tony McC]

If I had the time, I'd do a survey of just how many contractors were (a) aware of the comdy legislation and (b) implementing it.

Anecdotally, I think it's less than 5% of new driveways are being laid in full compliance with the rules and the LAs don't give a Donald Duck. It's bad legislation, badly thought out, badly written, badly implemented and it deserves to die a death. As a society we should be focussing on all those bloody retail car parks and office blocks rather than trying to implement a soakaway beneath someone's driveway in a clay spot.

[msh paving]

round hear, the council arn't interested, no contractor is taking any notice me included, waste off time and tax payer's money to dream it up,
in this town we are on a combined drainage system sewer and roof water all go in the same pipe water table at 3-4ft so how is a SUD's system gonna work,go 4 miles away light sandy gravely soil fill a hole with brick rubble drains perfect no need for anything SUD's like
MSH

[vortex]

Oh right :O

Well I did wonder whether it was being either implemented or policed....

I rather suspect a similar situation is the current status with respect to Part P (electrical work) - another badly thought out piece of legislation which ironically may cause more people to avoid having neccessary or urgent work done due to the extra cost / complexity.

Another waste of tax payers money.

[lutonlagerlout]

part P is much much more important, people's lives are at risk from dodgy wiring.
i know its a pain but it is the same with corgi/gas safe for plumbers
it protects the consumer's well-being, which must be a good thing
LLL