Widening my driveway

warwick2001

Afternoon all,

I'm wanting to widen my driveway, as at the moment it's a very tight squeeze between the car and the edges (approx. 1 1/2 ft each side). Both edges are built up, and so it's making things quite difficult to open/close the car doors, and get in/out depending if I parked too close to one of the edge walls. And when both me and my wife are in the car, I try to park in the middle of the driveway, so in these instances we have very little space on both sides.




As you can see in pic above, the dropped kerb currently sits just after the post at the end of the wall (currently hidden by tree). I do not want to extend this further, I want to essentially 'chop' approx. 3 feet off the wall which will give more space on the right hand side of the driveway (in pic above).



As you can see in the pic above, it's that low wall that causes issues, as the car door is just a wee bit low, and scraps on the top of the copping stones (if I park the car slightly further down the drive, the door will hit the wall). I would much rather remove that wall entirely, and just have the land retained by a 'skinnier' method. I try to park as far up the drive as possible to avoid this issue, but as we have a second car, I am almost parking in the boot of that car atm.




As the garden is raised, I know it will be a bit of work moving the spoil etc (and the tree), but my main concern is what do I need to do legally? Do I have to involve the council? Do I need planning permission? The tree will be re-situated on the other side of the garden, as I like it and don't want to kill it, if possible. 

Any help/advice is appreciated.

Many thanks

P.S I know its a bit chunk of work for a few feet of more space, but having lived with this for a few months now, we definitely need to sort it, as hopefully we are starting a family soon, and will need to be able to get baby (and baby-seat) in and out of the car. And we need to be able to open the car doors fully to do this.

DE_612183

think you need to edit your post with some info...

Emmia

What's the question? 

warwick2001

Wow, you guys were quick DE_612183 and Emmia. I was editing the post as I add the photos via my mobile, and then write the text on my computer

DE_612183

If you are doing anything with the wall that joins the payment I think you'll need to get the council planning office involved - you may not need permission as such, but they will tell you.

TELLIT01

If it's only the low wall which is parallel to the car then you can do what you want.   I would simply remove the wall and lay some slabs to give a wider walkway.  Possibly do some work to bring the lawn edge down to the new ground level.

Section62

warwick2001 said:

...but my main concern is what do I need to do legally? Do I have to involve the council? Do I need planning permission? The tree will be re-situated on the other side of the garden, as I like it and don't want to kill it, if possible. 

Is the road classified ('A', 'B' or 'C')?

You've got a concrete drive sloping towards the road.  You may find the council (planning and highways) have concerns about increasing the impermeable area, and run-off onto the road.  That may apply whether or not you need planning consent.

By all means try, but I think the tree is likely to die if you try to move it. It looks far too large to survive transplantation without a ball of soil of a size which would make it impossible to move without specialist equipment.

warwick2001

Section62 said:

warwick2001 said:

...but my main concern is what do I need to do legally? Do I have to involve the council? Do I need planning permission? The tree will be re-situated on the other side of the garden, as I like it and don't want to kill it, if possible. 

Is the road classified ('A', 'B' or 'C')?

You've got a concrete drive sloping towards the road.  You may find the council (planning and highways) have concerns about increasing the impermeable area, and run-off onto the road.  That may apply whether or not you need planning consent.

By all means try, but I think the tree is likely to die if you try to move it. It looks far too large to survive transplantation without a ball of soil of a size which would make it impossible to move without specialist equipment.

Its a road in a housing area, so I assume its a 'C' road, but cant be sure.

Do I need to contact the council to organise a site visit to establish what needs to be done? Who would I need to make the decisions?

Section62

warwick2001 said:

Section62 said:

warwick2001 said:

...but my main concern is what do I need to do legally? Do I have to involve the council? Do I need planning permission? The tree will be re-situated on the other side of the garden, as I like it and don't want to kill it, if possible. 

Is the road classified ('A', 'B' or 'C')?

You've got a concrete drive sloping towards the road.  You may find the council (planning and highways) have concerns about increasing the impermeable area, and run-off onto the road.  That may apply whether or not you need planning consent.

By all means try, but I think the tree is likely to die if you try to move it. It looks far too large to survive transplantation without a ball of soil of a size which would make it impossible to move without specialist equipment.

Its a road in a housing area, so I assume its a 'C' road, but cant be sure.

Do I need to contact the council to organise a site visit to establish what needs to be done? Who would I need to make the decisions?

If you are on a classified road you may need planning consent for altering the wall.  If you can leave the wall as-is then you only need to worry about whether the larger hard surface complies with the permitted development rules.

You could try asking the planners at your council, but many councils now make a charge to provide any useful information, and they may just refer you to the council's highways department to discuss getting the crossover altered (which you don't necessarily want to do).

I'd probably start by checking the council's website and/or giving them a call to find out whether the road is classified.

ciderboy2009

What I would do would be to knock down about half of the low wall (the bit nearest the house), Remove soil from the lawn area as required to slope it to the new level and then put something permeable down to cover where the wall had been.

The drive looks plenty wide enough for your car & losing just that bit of the wall should give you the extra space you need to open your door.

The alternative would be to take a layer of bricks off of the low wall and replace the coping stones - that should give you the extra space to open your door over it.

warwick2001

Section62 said:

warwick2001 said:

Section62 said:

warwick2001 said:

...but my main concern is what do I need to do legally? Do I have to involve the council? Do I need planning permission? The tree will be re-situated on the other side of the garden, as I like it and don't want to kill it, if possible. 

Is the road classified ('A', 'B' or 'C')?

You've got a concrete drive sloping towards the road.  You may find the council (planning and highways) have concerns about increasing the impermeable area, and run-off onto the road.  That may apply whether or not you need planning consent.

By all means try, but I think the tree is likely to die if you try to move it. It looks far too large to survive transplantation without a ball of soil of a size which would make it impossible to move without specialist equipment.

Its a road in a housing area, so I assume its a 'C' road, but cant be sure.

Do I need to contact the council to organise a site visit to establish what needs to be done? Who would I need to make the decisions?

If you are on a classified road you may need planning consent for altering the wall.  If you can leave the wall as-is then you only need to worry about whether the larger hard surface complies with the permitted development rules.

You could try asking the planners at your council, but many councils now make a charge to provide any useful information, and they may just refer you to the council's highways department to discuss getting the crossover altered (which you don't necessarily want to do).

I'd probably start by checking the council's website and/or giving them a call to find out whether the road is classified.

Can you please clarify, I assume you mean the wall that runs down the drive, rather than the wall running along the pavement?