Are you planning to redesign your front garden or drive? If you are then you might not be aware that the government is to introduce legislation from the 1st October 2008 that may mean you need to apply for planning permission before you proceed.
The Environment Agency has issued guidance on home owners and contractors responsibilities. Planning permission will now be needed if you intend to lay a new surface that is in excess of five square metres where the material that is to be laid is not permeable.
Materials that are defined as being porous such as permeable concrete block paving, porous asphalt or gravel will not need planning permission. The move is designed to stem run off that is contributing to flooding.
Planning permission will cost £150.00 and your planning submission we need to be accompanied with scaled drawings. A decision will be reached within eight weeks.
A twenty six page advice document titled - Guidance on the permeable surfacing of front gardens - is available for download.
Tony McCormack's excellent Paving Expert site explains the latest developments and raises some concerns about definition and responsibilities.
One interesting comment PE makes is concerning the generalised term 'builder' and why a builder might necessarily be a paving specialist.
Tony McCormack says: "The suggestion that homeowners should seek advice from "a builder" also rankles. Builders, generally speaking, are not paving specialists.
They tend to be bricklayers or joiners by trade, and some of the most appalling paving installations witnessed have been perpetrated by "builders" who though they knew what they were doing, a preference for using sand and cement, rather than clean sand, for the bedding and jointing is one of their most common misunderstandings."
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