Paving the way for off-street parking
Turning your front garden into a handy driveway can be a big plus but how should you go about it?
Turning your front garden into off-street parking can add considerable value to your home, especially in expensive urban areas.
Depending on the size of the garden and the number of cars your household has, you may not want to turn the whole front garden into parking, but being able to park there can make life much easier if your street is overcrowded and/or you need a permit to park your car out on the street.
You can often create (or replace) a driveway without obtaining planning permission. The key is drainage – if you use a porous material, such as gravel, permeable asphalt or permeable block paving, you won’t usually need permission. Nor will you if the off-street parking is constructed to let rainwater drain to a border or lawn.
However, if you’re covering an area of more than five square metres in an impermeable material and rainwater won’t be able to drain to a permeable area, planning permission will be required. removed by an Article 4 direction, which often happens in conservation areas. Ask your local council if in doubt.
If your garden is already paved or partially paved, you may think it can be used for parking. However, unless the paving was designed for parking on, it probably won’t be suitable because it won’t have enough hardcore underneath to take the weight of a car. If you have off-street parking and want to extend it, this may seem straightforward but often isn’t. It may be hard to match the existing paving material, especially if it has weathered, and the driveway may not have been constructed properly in the first place, in which case it’s better to start from scratch – trying to add new to old can be a false economy.
As well as the driveway, you’ll need a dropped kerb to get your car on and off. Planning permission is usually required for a dropped kerb and the local council will have to do the work, often charging a lot for it. The pavement may also need to be altered – it may need strengthened or angled differently. You may be refused permission for off-street parking and the dropped kerb if, say, your garden is considered too small, or your house is by a bend in the road, so consult the council at an early stage.