Cut Drive - Harrow Council

[unclebob1]

Afternoon All,

Looking to get the kerb outside my house cut by harrow council soon.

At present the hard standing area in front of the house is crazy paved, and I'm 99% sure the council will not allow me to cut the kerb until I install a soak way of some description or a method of retaining water to soak away into the soil.

Has anyone come across or had any dealings with soak ways etc?

Speaking to other people in the area, they have created a hole, and filled it with gravel (at a high level) with water draining into the gravel pit. The council have approved this, so i'm looking to do something similar.

I don't want to redo the whole drive as yet, the slope for water run at present is into a corner away from the house - near where the dropped kerb will join the property.
Cut the paving down wont be a problem, except im not sure how much i will need to cut away, and how deep to dig the hole to fill with gravel!

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[HERTS P&D]

See link below:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain08.html

Andy

 

[unclebob1]

Thanks!

Looks like i need to get digging then!

I'm sure the water level will be quite low - the back garden is approx 1-1.5m lower then the front and there is a stream - about 20m away which is another 2/3m lower then the front so shouldn't have a problem there.

The formula is what i really needed!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

The simple version here: http://www.woking.gov.uk/planning/building/guidance/soakaways

Nine times out of ten, for a typical extension a Building Inspector will just accept a m3 or thereabouts, assuming historically the ground is up to it. Doing the cacl means do a percolation test.

All assuming a soakaway is actually required but not enough info to answer that, which should generally be 5m away from any building.

 

[xdave]

Are you just asking for the kerb to be dropped so you can use an existing hard surface as a drive that already drains on to the highway? If you are not changing the hard surface at all then it should not be a planning matter at all, only highways, and they will only be concerned with sight lines, visibility for use and other road users, etc.

Only when/if you decide to replace the surface would planning apply, and then you could (and always should when possible) install sutiable drainage to avoid the requirement to obtain planning permission.

If highways overstep their area and start referring to planning then simply mention that you will either install a soakaway or obtain planning permission when you come to resurface the area, but that it does not currently apply.

You are not legally required to handle surface water runoff within the bounds of your property - only the water which falls onto buildings. That is why it was introduced as a planning condition to allow it to be covered under existing regulations and enforcement. If you are not carrying out works that fall under the planning regulations then you do not need to change the existing drainage.

That said however, some councils are laws unto themselves and they may try and insist you address the drainage. You could try and appeal, or you could just sort it in advance of eventually replacing your drive to appease them - it all depends how prepared they are to fight them.

All that is assuming that you are not changing the existing drive, or adding more than 5 sqm of new drive (which would need to be separate, maybe via a gravel strip, etc). Reinstating an existing hard surface due to damage required to drop the kerb would not be included.

 

[r896neo]

xdave is right the suds legislation does not apply unless you replace the hardstanding.

In reality suds is not at all enforced and simply a linear drain at the edge of the drive terminating into a bucket-ful of graval will keep you compliant.

 

[unclebob1]

Apologies for not coming back to this thred, i've just found it by googling for some information for it!

So just to fill in the gap between then and now:

I applied for the dropped kerb, and this was accepted with the following condition:

"At the time of inspection parking facilities were availble behind the area of the proposed crossing but do not meet the criteria of the current policy. Payment should therefore be with held until construction in accordance with the policy. You need to ensure that the hard standing is constructed of permeable material or provisions made to direct any run off to an area that allows the water to drain away naturally within the boundaries of the property."

That was in Sep 2013.

I never got round to do any of the works - And decided i would go down the resin permeable surface when i had completed other building works (didnt want to end up with damaged surface on a drive which i just had installed!).

Fast forward to last week, the council have marked up for moving a lamp post which will result in the dropped kerb space being reduced, and now i need to get my a$$ into gear and try and get the drive sorted asap before the new street light goes in.

Looking at putting in a 1 cubic meter attenuator cell, however the distance between house and pavement is just under 5m... where is best place to put it?

layout is as follows:

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• unclebob1
• 12 May 2015
• 2