Sarah Nazmy

I was aware of the drainage rules for non permeable driveways and the contractor who quoted us said the block paving is permeable and a drain where it meets the pavement would not be required. On trying to get the kerb dropped after the driveway was finished, the east Sussex highways agency insisted I cant have it done unless I have a drain...that yes it is a legal requirement even for the type of block paving we have...that it is not permeable as the contractor claims. The contractor was extremely rude and unpleasant and said he has done driveways 15 years and never had this issue, hes never heard of this rule! IS it the law a block paving driveway needs a drain? (as water drains between the blocks!)or have east sussex highways got it wrong? Is it possible to have one put the pavement side of the edge stones so I dont have to pay someone else to adapt the driveway and affect our guarantee? Is it essential for a drain to have a soakaway or can it drain straight into the ground? There is already a dip where the wall used to be between the drive edge and the pavement and the very little water that runs off the driveway in extremely heavy rain runs straight into the ground, no puddles. There is no room for a soakaway unless the drain is further back from the road because of the wall each side. Many Thanks for any advice you can give 😊

Ah unfortunately I didn't know that as it's my first experience of building and associated regulations! We would still have gone ahead with the extension even if we do have to have a landing, but of course we'd far rather not! So if the door opens the other way and not over the stairs, would that get round it? Many thanks

HelloWe are having a 4x5m room extension added to the side of our house....the ground level is about 75cm (maybe less, I can measure it later) below the ground floor of the rest of the house, so it will have steps down into it from our existing living room.But today our builder told us that to pass building regulations we would have to have a landing, which means the stairs will now take up a significant percentage of floorspace. We had hoped a single set of 3 or 4 steepish steps would be acceptable, as is on the architects plan for which we got a certificate of lawful development.Is there any way round this, besides having stairs made to regulations and then ripping them out and changing them after? (we're on a very tight budget)I'd be very grateful for any advice!Many Thanks