Planning permission update????

[Sammy]

Hi there

I'm planning a new block paved driveway and have had the usual 3 quotes in and hoped to have it completed by October as I'd read on this site that planning permission would be required after that time. Unfortunately my preferred contractor is fully booked to November but I really want to use him as he has an excellent reputation. Phoning my local council I was told that they were aware it was coming in during October but had know idea of the details and would probably not find out this from central government until the night before (as usual!). I'm having a proper soakaway installed and do having an existing driveway but this will be enlarged. Has anyone heard anymore on the legislation and if not do I risk it and go ahead with the work or not. The permeable block work for me is a no go - ugly and expensive. Does my soakaway not produce the same results?

Any advice pleae? Thanks

[Tony McC]

There is still NO definitive news on this, other than what I've already written in umpteen other threads on the same subject.

Until DEFRA comes back with some definitive guidance or regulations, the best any of us can do is guess, and trying to second guess politicians and civil servants is a game for the terminally bewildered alone!

[Sammy]

OK, I guess I knew that would be the answer. Incidentally I rang another local council (not mine) and they have said the bill may not even go through and if it does they've got far more important things on their plate than home owners driveways, unless it's a conservation area. They even sugggested if I'm worried I could start digging the drive out before October which would be considered commencement of work so if the law changed I'd be in the clear.

[Pablo]

Surely there is a technicallity here whereby if work was started before the deadline then it is exemt. You could do a little work to it so that it was classed as started then it wouldn't matter about the time gap in between. You could also just keep quiet and do the work when you want most others will and how are they going to police it but I never told you that.

[Tony McC]

The big issue seems to revolve around what constitutes "new".

If you have a strip of bitmac leading from the gates, up the side of the house to the garage, and then you decide to have it re-paved, with an extra parking space on a bit of what was the front garden, is that new or reconstruction work?

Further, the discussion keeps using the words "front garden". So: if your new/reconstructed driveway is built solely at the side of the house (due to the lie of the plot, f'rinstrance), does that render it exempt?

The whole idea is a typical 'designed by committee' bollix. The idea behind it is worthy, but the proposed implementation is screwed to hell and back. Listening to summat on the radio this morning about domestic refuse collection, I wondered whether the bozo that is pushing the current kristalnacht terror against over-filled wheelie bins is the same bozo as the one behind the 'ban driveways' nonsense? In the waste wars, all this kerfuffle over domestic waste may ruffle the feathers of the readers of the Daily Wail, but it actually accounts for less than 10% of what we, as a a nation, send to landfill. Kicking the poor homeowner whilst turning a politically-convenient blind eye to the real source of the problem (industry and commerce) is a succinct precis of the issue over front driveways. What about all those retail park car parks, supermarkets, office blocks, etc? Doesn't rain fall on them?

[williams]

I have a contact who is high up in the council i recently enquired with.
He made some enquires and was told that it is 'something the government are looking at' so its not set in stone.

I,m not too worried as a contractor for now.
But will have to wait and see what happens