Do I Need Planning Permission for a New Driveway?

The five square metre rule explained

Since 2008, government rules on front garden paving have been tied to surface water. You can lay a driveway of any size under permitted development rights, with no application needed, as long as the surface is permeable or the rainwater drains to a permeable area within your own property, such as a lawn or planted border.

If you want a traditional impermeable surface, for example standard concrete or conventional tarmac laid to fall towards the street, and it covers more than five square metres, you need planning permission. Given that a single parking space is roughly 12 square metres, almost any real driveway crosses that threshold. In practice, the choice for most homeowners is between a permeable build and a planning application.

• Permeable block paving with a free draining sub base: no permission needed
• Gravel over a properly prepared base: no permission needed
• Resin bound surfacing on a permeable base: no permission needed
• Concrete or tarmac draining to a lawn or soakaway on your land: no permission needed
• Concrete or tarmac over 5 square metres draining to the road: permission required

When you do need to apply

Beyond drainage, a few situations bring planning permission back into play. If your house is a listed building, you will likely need consent for driveway works. In conservation areas, of which Chorley borough has several, including parts of the town centre and villages such as Rivington and Brindle, extra restrictions can apply, so it is worth a quick call to Chorley Council's planning department before committing.

Flats and maisonettes do not have the same permitted development rights as houses, so paving a shared frontage usually needs an application. The same goes if a previous owner's planning conditions removed permitted development rights, which sometimes happens on newer estates. A search of the council's online planning records, or a phone call, settles it in minutes and costs nothing.

The dropped kerb is a separate permission

This is the step people miss most often. If your new driveway means vehicles will cross the pavement for the first time, you need a dropped kerb, formally a vehicle crossing, and that is approved by Lancashire County Council as the highways authority, not by Chorley Council. It is a separate process from planning permission and you need it even when the driveway itself is permitted development.

The county council charges an application fee and the construction must be done by an approved contractor to highways specification, because the footway has to carry vehicle weight. Budget realistically for somewhere in the region of 1,500 to 3,500 pounds for the crossing itself depending on kerb length, utility covers and footpath build up, on top of the driveway. If your road is classified or has speed limits above 30mph, planning permission for the access may also be required, so allow a few extra weeks in your timeline.

What a compliant driveway looks like underneath

The permeable label is earned below the surface, not on top of it. A permeable block paved driveway needs an open graded sub base, typically 150 to 200mm of clean crushed stone with the fines removed, so water can pass through and soak away. Lay permeable blocks over a standard compacted sub base and you have an impermeable driveway in all but name, which defeats the point and can lead to ponding.

Ground conditions matter too. Parts of Chorley sit on heavy clay, which drains slowly, so a soakaway or attenuation layer sometimes needs sizing accordingly. A decent groundworks contractor will dig a trial hole and check how the ground drains before quoting a build up, rather than guessing. It is also worth keeping any surface water well away from your damp proof course and from next door's boundary, as directing runoff onto a neighbour's land can cause disputes and is not a lawful drainage solution.