Non Standard Size Driveway Extension

[dannymassive]

Hi all, I am hoping you may be able to offer some guidance on the following. I am wanting to extend my tarmac driveway to be wide enough to accommodate one car and one motorcycle, with enough width to allow the car door to open without knocking over the motorcycle. I don't want to extend it to the width of two cars due to the extra cost involved and the lack of space, if I did extend to the minimum for two cars I would loose too much grass and the flowerbeds to the front of my property and I don't want the tarmac to be overpowering for aesthetic reasons. Now, this is where the issue lies. Property was built in the late 90's and has had permitted development rights removed in the planning consent for the housing development which we live on. With that in mind, I am going to have to submit a full planning application for the extended width driveway. However, I can only find guidance / policies relating to minimum sizes for a single driveway or alternatively a driveway Infront of a double garage. No policies mention parking for one car and one motorcycle. How would I approach this with my planning application?

 

[^woody^]

Check your property planning permission conditions, see what rights have been removed - all or just specific, or if subsequent PD rights are included.

There are no size criteria, or what you plan to do with it. For your purpose, its just a hard standing that's all you need to state, and the only planning issue for non-listed or conservation areas is normally the drainage - runoff to go into the ground not in to drains.

 

[Deluks]

What about a grass or gravel grid?

 

[dannymassive]

Check your property planning permission conditions, see what rights have been removed - all or just specific, or if subsequent PD rights are included.

There are no size criteria, or what you plan to do with it. For your purpose, its just a hard standing that's all you need to state, and the only planning issue for non-listed or conservation areas is normally the drainage - runoff to go into the ground not in to drains.

This is the exact wording :

"Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 3 of the Town and Country Planning Permitted Development Order, 1988 (as amended) (or any Order revoking and re-enacting that Order), no development of the types described in Schedule 2, Parts 1 and 2, shall be carried out without written consent of the local Planning Authority. "

Which from my understanding, means any hardstanding is no longer permitted development and requires planning permission.

We are not in a listed or conservation area, but this is where the next problem arises. As the house is at a lower level than the road, the driveway is somewhat sloped. There is no space for any soakaways as they would be directly in front of the house - with no gap and in clay type soil. The only option is to extend the existing ACO channel drain. I am not in a flood risk area so hope this would not cause any problems?

 

[dannymassive]

What about a grass or gravel grid?

I initially considered gravel, but our local authority won't allow it within 5m of a public highway. Grass would be too slippery when wet as the driveway is sloped towards the house and also doubles up as the only footpath for pedestrian access to the house.

 

[^woody^]

Have a look at gravel binders