Below is some information you may find useful when it comes to plans over your driveway or any other surfacing work you want completed.

Planning permission

If your project is for an existing house, you don’t generally need planning permission for a driveway as it is classed as ‘Permitted Development’. However there are some instances where Permitted Development doesn’t apply; this is for property such as flats and maisonettes, or homes converted into living accommodation from commercial property.

There are some areas of the country where Permitted Development rights have have been removed across the board for all properties, but for driveways in Surrey and most of the home counties, this isn’t an issue. However if your property is listed, you will need planning and listed building consent before making any modifications.

There are other considerations where planning permission may come into play, for example if you are looking to install a driveway into an existing front garden or if you want to widen an existing driveway… but these only tend to apply if the area concerned is more than five square metres. Give us a call or speak to your local authority if you are unsure.

SuDS regulations

In October 2008 the government took steps to address future flooding issues and domestic driveways became regulated under the constraints of the ‘Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems’ (SuDS).

Unfortunately, homeowners are often confused as to what these regulations actually mean due to the very selective explanations given by some so-called ‘experts’ who are actually just trying to promote specific surfacing products for their own benefit.

The basic principles of SuDS relate to how the surface water created by your driveway is managed, and the regulations are not there to specify which materials your driveway should be surfaced with.

For the purpose of domestic driveways and hard-standings, we have simplified the rules and regulations:

1. Any driveway built, modified or repaired before October 2008 holds ‘Grandfather Rights’ and is not subject to the SuDS regulations.
2. Any new driveway constructed after October 2008, or any older driveway with Grandfather Rights which is repaired or extended by more than 5 square metres after October 2008, must comply with SuDS regulations.
3. Provided that the surface water created by any driveway (as described in 2 above) drains within the property boundaries and does not run off onto a public highway, then SuDS have been complied with and no planning permission is required regardless of what materials the driveway has been surfaced with.

Again if you need clarification on any of the above, feel free to contact us to discuss.