Planning permission needed for driveway and lowering front lawn?

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My plan is to dig out the front garden area to put in a gravel single car driveway level with the pavement, and hopefully be approved by the council for them dropping the kerb.

The idea hit a snag today when after taking down the front wall and side fence, as well as awful concrete path in front of the bay window, I decided to see how low down the house foundations are.

To my shock it's only 3 courses of bricks down from the concrete path where it sits on a strip foundation approx. 150mm thin! Apparently this was standard for 50's houses.

Using a string line from 3 bricks up from foundation out to the pavement, I learned that the pavement level is 14" below the top of the foundation level, meaning the top of my gravel drive would be 14" BELOW the top of the foundation!

The plan wasn't to have the driveway going all the way to the house anyway, but to build a retaining wall out the same width as the current concrete path.

Obviously I need a BCO coming out and professional advice, but before I go waste any money, I was wondering if anyone here could put me out of my misery and say if it's unlikely I'll get it approved.

Here are all the pictures as well as a CAD drawing of what I had in mind.

The original state we inherited buying the house:

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Cleaned up

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Notched a bit of scrap timber to give better clarity

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Panoramic of the pavement to house with foundation in view

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And CAD drawing of the dream... but probably will remain that way haha

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I'm guessing a retaining wall will go where the red arrow is?
 
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Or build it with a sloping driveway?
Thanks for the reply, Old Salt. Thought of that but it would need tarmac or concrete, the former being ridiculously expensive, and the latter being unsightly imo.

Even if sloped, wouldn't the top of the slope have to be a few feet from the edge of the house wall?
 
My drive is on a slope and made from block paving. Your could start the slope from the edge of the concrete path and drop down to the level of the pavement. That way you would not need to disturb the foundations at all.
 
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My drive is on a slope and made from block paving. Your could start the slope from the edge of the concrete path and drop down to the level of the pavement. That way you would not need to disturb the foundations at all.

That's some great advice Salt, I will consider that. Do you happen to have a pic of your drive?
 
It's a small pic but from what I can see it looks like something I would be pleased with. I'll see what others might say here and get back to planning.

Edit: but going back to your earlier comment, if the driveway were sloped and started at the edge of that old concrete path, it would definitely not interfere with the foundations, so long as there was some solid earth packed in tight level with the top of the slope?
 
Sounds obvious but have you looked at similar houses in the area to see what's been done?
I realise that you might be on the only hill in the area
 
Sounds obvious but have you looked at similar houses in the area to see what's been done?
I realise that you might be on the only hill in the area
As above, look at the neighbours.

Andy

Thanks for the replies guys.

Well my house is one of 4-5 on my street which are all raised the same, but none of which have driveways sadly.

(Old Google Maps pictures from long before buying the house)

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This is the street behind but as you can see, it is level with the road, meaning the start of the foundation is below pavement level

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Sloping driveway for certain, you really don't want to be digging below the foundations. Think you'll need pp for an impervious surface (the blocks), you'll probably have to put an Aco drain across the boundary & drain it to a soakaway (unless you're on clay in which case it'll go to surface water drainage). Before getting too carried away, it'll be worth applying for your dropped kerb- can't see any reason why they'd knock you back unless someone gets stressy about the gradient of your proposed driveway.
 
Sloping driveway for certain, you really don't want to be digging below the foundations. Think you'll need pp for an impervious surface (the blocks), you'll probably have to put an Aco drain across the boundary & drain it to a soakaway (unless you're on clay in which case it'll go to surface water drainage). Before getting too carried away, it'll be worth applying for your dropped kerb- can't see any reason why they'd knock you back unless someone gets stressy about the gradient of your proposed driveway.

Thanks for the reply Old.

Do you see any issues with the sloped driveway as far as the foundations are concerned?

How far out from in line with the foundation would you begin the top of the slope?
 
As long as the top of your slope is above the foot of your foundations and there is some covering to the founds so they don't get washed out by rainfall you'll be fine. There's no need to leave a margin between end of drive and house wall, in some ways you will be better off with the slope going all the way to the house (surface water drainage especially)
 
As long as the top of your slope is above the foot of your foundations and there is some covering to the founds so they don't get washed out by rainfall you'll be fine. There's no need to leave a margin between end of drive and house wall, in some ways you will be better off with the slope going all the way to the house (surface water drainage especially)
Thank you so much for the help Old. I really appreciate this.

Couple more things if I may, but will the weight of the drive and car on it bearing down on the earth above the foundation not cause it to crack?

Obviously the car won’t be parked flush against the house but as in the pictures the top of the earth above the foundations, so where the surface of the drive would be, is a mere 3 brick courses (so 10 inches) above the foundations!!

It doesn’t seem like much protection! (n)

There is another house I spotted on the street behind who’s had a drive. The slope isn’t quite as steep but it is sloping down.

I can’t imagination why their foundations would be any lower and they have concrete and car bearing down on them

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Just a couple of points following on from what Old has said, just from a planning perspective.

If the area isn't permeable or adequately drained, you'll need planning permission for the resurfacing / regarding of the driveway.

Sloped is better IMO - if your digging out a lot of ground (a "lot" isn't a specified amount) and especially if your introducing retaining structures / elements, then you may need planning consent in its own right as the development could be considered a building / engineering operation. A slope is far less technical and probably unlikely to require consent in this regard.

Double check with the Local Authority (LA) that you don't need Planning Permission for the dropped kerb - I can't imagine you would on that street, but double check and it's usually relatively straight forward from there to get the kerb dropped with the LA.
 

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