It’s always worth finding out whether you need to get planning permission when you are embarking on a significant home improvement. Especially if you’re making a big change. Most people don’t make big changes like replacing their drive very often, so if you’ve lived in your home for 5 years, and the drive was laid long before you moved in there’s a good chance that regulations may have changed in the meantime.
So, what are the regulations that may cause you to need planning permission for replacing your driveway?
The first one is the changes made to the General Permitted Development Order in 2008. Under these changes any household that wants to replace their driveway or front garden with a hard surface is able to do so, as long as the surface is either: less than 5 square meters, or if it is more than 5 square meters in size, then the surface has to be permeable. Only if you are unable to ensure that the surface is permeable do you have to obtain planning permission.
Put more simply, as long as your drive is less than 5 square meters in size you can replace it no problem. If it is more than 5 square meters then the surface you are using has to be permeable, or you need to get planning permission.
There is also a series of regulations known as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) that are currently (August 2023) being discussed as to whether they should become law for all new developments as of 2024.
SuDS are a series of regulations that are designed to take a nature based approach to drainage problems and to help alleviate the effects of flooding on local water tables. Put simply they involve ensuring that surfaces like driveways allow water to permeate through their surface and back into the ground, rather than pooling and having to run off into the drainage system. This has many benefits to the natural environment we live in and will ensure that our drainage systems don’t get overwhelmed.
When it comes to installing a new resin drive it depends entirely on what kind of resin drive you choose as to whether you will need planning permission to install it.
A resin bound drive is completely SuDS compliant, meaning it is a permeable driveway solution. Or put another way, regardless of how big you want your drive to be, you don’t need planning permission to install a resin bound driveway.
If you choose a resin bonded drive however, they aren’t permeable. This means that if you want to install more than 5 square meters of drive and have chosen a resin bonded drive, you will need to get planning permission from your local authority to install it.
