Front Garden Drive Conversion issues

[Tom_Sauce]

Hi all,

Ordered a electric car and that along with parking issues on my road means I need to convert the front garden into a drive.

I don't know much about what I'm doing but with the help of AI, YouTube and here hope to pull it off!

Ive knocked the wall down to the 1st course - this seems rock solid and is sitting on a concrete foundation. The rest of the wall as it was 80 years old came down pretty quickly.

I'm planning on running some paving edging along the middle of the existing 1st course and fixing in place with concreate. Then I'm going to use MOT Type 3 as a sub base, then a weed barrier then probably the plastic grids and decorative gravel.

My issues are that my front garden slopes upwards from the house to the road and the pavement is quite high. I drove the Mrs Fiesta onto the 'drive' whene there where 2 courses and it bottomed out. My new car will weight 2 tonnes and have a battery in the floor so I want to avoid this!

Hopefully by using deep enough MOT and a whacker I can feather the drive on a angle so its not an issue.

Id be grateful of any guidance with regards to my plan!

 

[Murdochcat]

Planning permission for dropping the kerb and making the garden into a drive?

 

[Tom_Sauce]

Planning permission for dropping the kerb and making the garden into a drive?

Not yet but will when the drive is in place. TBH though there are at least 15 houses on the same road who haven't and have not had any issues. But obviously it will help with the bottoming out issue. My problem is the length of time the local council takes to make a decison and I need to charge my new car.

 

[aveatry]

Not yet but will when the drive is in place. TBH though there are at least 15 houses on the same road who haven't and have not had any issues. But obviously it will help with the bottoming out issue. My problem is the length of time the local council takes to make a decison and I need to charge my new car.

If you dont have a drop kerb then how are you going to stop people from parking in front of your house and blocking your car in

 

[Tom_Sauce]

If you dont have a drop kerb then how are you going to stop people from parking in front of your house and blocking your car in

I'm well aware that until I get a drop kerb that I cant - hopefully people will see my car charging on the drive and not park in front. Like I mentioned there are many houses on the same street that do not have a dropped kerb so Its almost like a unwritten rule for the residents of the street.

 

[Murdochcat]

Not yet but will when the drive is in place. TBH though there are at least 15 houses on the same road who haven't and have not had any issues. But obviously it will help with the bottoming out issue. My problem is the length of time the local council takes to make a decison and I need to charge my new car.

Around here they ask for planning permission to create a drive AND permission to have the kerb dropped

 

[Tom_Sauce]

Not here, you only need to ask for planing for drive if non-permiable.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Hopefully by using deep enough MOT and a whacker I can feather the drive on a angle so its not an issue.

Putting everything else aside, this is your solution in a nutshell. You have the sharp outmost edge of your (upwards) incline drive meeting the sharp inside edge of the public footpath. We had exactly this issue in a house I lived in years back. The drive was part of the original build so had the drop kerb. However the underside of my car slightly scraped the intersection of drive and path.

A general builder took out the two slabs that met the footpath (it was a slabbed and chipped drive) and essentially created a slight curve with cement. I think he slightly went into the public pathway with the cement but I mean only slightly, not half way across!

Did the trick.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Apply to get the kerb dropped now.

Hopefully they will allow the whole width of the path to be dipped which will make your life easier.

Don’t any more building up, etc until you know the finished level of the path as anything before that is potentially waste of time.

Feels like you might need to have a flat bit level with the path for a couple metres then slope downwards a bit to avoid scraping the car.

Also you’re going to need some sensible drainage near your house and a soak away somewhere there, so you’re going to be digging down a lot more before you can build up.

 

[Tom_Sauce]

Going to get the application in this week but looking online this can take 4-6 months and the car is coming much before then.

I already have a soak away and am hoping that by using permeable gravel that should be ok.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

There are usually very specific rules for a drop kerb application, if it doesn't comply then permission will be declined so you should check it meets the criteria before applying. It's different to planning there is very little if any negotiation with highways.

 

[aveatry]

Seems bonkers that they want to push everyone into EVs and yet it seems a nightmare to get a dropped kerb put in. I understand the thing about not allowing it it close to junctions ETC.

 

[Tom_Sauce]

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to put a application in this week. In the meantime I'm hoping that my solution will work. The Car is coming soon so I need to make sure it will be ok on the drive whilst I await permission to drop the kerb.

Thanks

 

[kingandy2nd]

Going to get the application in this week but looking online this can take 4-6 months and the car is coming much before then.

I already have a soak away and am hoping that by using permeable gravel that should be ok.

Very surprised it takes that long, but no idea how efficient your local council is.

Suggest you get a grab truck to just dump a few tons of MOT1 to give you that level area then angle it downwards