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I was tee'ing up to pour a standard concrete driveway next month but the plans state it has to be permeable. Also regs seem to indicate if you want to cover up the whole front garden more than 50% it has to be permeable. I could just do it in standard concrete but that might get me into trouble though, and I plan to sell to build next door shortly. I will need an ACO drain as the driveway slopes towards the house. I did get quotes in January for 50 square meters prices ranged from 5K to 14K with only the top one being permeable. They all seems fine to do imprinted / tarmac etc that isn't permeable! To save money I wanted to do this myself DIY so I'll study www.pavingexpert.com as suggested here in another thread. I took a look at permeable concrete videos on youtube, it needs a steel roller and is harder to work with than standard concrete. Has anyone poured a driveway with this stuff themselves? I could just go for block pavers, seems to be the most common. I'm laying a patio currently so I'll be fresh off that. What do people think is the best DIY option for permeable driveways? Thanks!

When is anything ever simple??☹️ The more I find out the more depressed I become! I shall explain. After realising that we needed planning for the wet room extension and organising that, I now have some time to sort out a driveway nearer the doorway to the bungalow for my elderly parents. The current driveway is about 30-40m from the front door and as neither mum nor dad can walk that quickly, when it was raining and they had shopping, they were both soaked by the time they got into the house. So they have asked for a small driveway alongside the path to the front door. its currently lawn and appears to be fairly free draining but I shall be conducting a permeablility test as described in https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/442889/BR_PDF_AD_H_2015.pdf and as per Jeremy's instructions on another post. The driveway will be 5m by 2.5m so 12.5 metres square. and therefore I believe it needs to be permeable paving. I planned to use concrete block paving so are these all permeable or do I need cerrtain ones? I popped into the local BM and said what I was planning. the chap there did not seem to know anything about permeablility of pavers. He has quoted for Bradstone Driveway Concrete Block Paving. On the Bradstone website, I cannot see if they are permeable or not but as they also have a Driveway Infilta range for use with a permeanle system, i would guess not. Or would the ordinary ones be okay if I use the right sort of sub-base layer? Which leads me onto the next question - the BM quoted for Type 1 but I believe I need Type 3. however, a little look online and the Type 3 looks like being nearly 3 times the price. Is that right? Do I really need Type 3 or can I just plan a nice rain garden to run alongside the non permeable driveway to collect all the run off? that looks like the simplest and cheapest option. But then to cap it all - I now find that I probably need permission for the darn thing after all!!! ? From the Government Document https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7728/pavingfrontgardens.pdf I found the following. Legal issues – If you are constructing a new access into the garden across the footpath (officially known as the footway) you will need to obtain permission from the local council to drop the kerbs and the public footpath may need strengthening. This is to protect any services buried in the ground such as water pipes. AHHH!!! I can see this getting expensive..... No doubt I will need a specialist contractor to drop the kerb - which is only 5 cm high so we didnt plan to lower it at all. The house opposite has made a driveway and havent bothered wtih the kerb, he just bumps up and we planned to do the same. Should I take the risk and not tell them?? But what if there are pipes below the surface and they get damaged? Photo below shows the current layout, although it was 10 years ago. This is the area. the plan is to take up the box hedging to the right of the path (they are now about 18inches high and very neat) and run the drive alongside the path. 2.5m wide and 5m long.

Hi, I've looking at the design of a driveway in a new build. The size is 6 meters deep from the street to the front of the house and 8-9 meters wide. There is a slight slope down from the street level to the front of the house. I'm planning on diverting the house gutter downpipes to an underground rainwater tank at the rear of the house. There are just two things I need advice on if someone can help me: How to ensure run off from washing a car, or any fuel/oil leak doesn't go down the downpipe drain mentioned earlier? Use of permeable paving - is the driveway too close to the house so using this would create a risk to the foundations? I'm guessing I need a separate channel (possibly where I've marked in RED) to capture any run off from the driveway and divert that directly into the storm drain, otherwise I'm risking mixing fuel/oil/detergents getting into the rainwater storage tanks. I'm keen on permeable paving but from what I've read they don't recommend it close to a house. I'm doubtful if 1.2 meters is sufficient (The wheelchair access area around the two spaces below). I'd need to understand where the water goes once it soaks through the permeable driveway aggregate so it's channeled to the storm drain correctly. I can always do a concrete driveway and build a channel into it to capture runoff but wonder about other options.....? Thanks!