How easy is it to put in a driveway?

AliceMitchell

Thank you for your comments, may check in with the other house above, good idea. 👍🏻 

eddddy

AliceMitchell said:

Thank you for your comments, may check in with the other house above, good idea. 👍🏻 

According to planning records, the house shown (no 7) got retrospective consent for that hardstanding (car parking) in 2004.

So I doubt the owners can give you any idea of what it would cost today. And the house might have been sold since then anyway.

And it looks like...
No 5 got consent in 2007
No 3 got consent in 2006
No 9 got consent in 2003
...and I can't see any more recent planning applications than those.

So it's possible that the council's planning policy could have changed since then

FWIW, the planners expressed concerns about visibility splays in at least one application (i.e. the ability to see cars coming from left and right as you drive out, because of the walls on each side of the parking space.) So that might be a concern.

Dustyevsky

The simple fact that what has gone before may not necessarily apply today, means you won't be 100% sure about gaining permission in advance.

People may arrange a pre-planning meeting with my council, but it costs a few £hundred and the planners prefer to see 'proper' drawings. In this case, they'd need to contact highways too. I doubt you'd have the time for all that!

Section62

RHemmings said:

EDIT: What is this square thing at the side? It has a front door and windows, and looks to me as if it might be an ex-garage that has been converted into a 'granny flat'. But, there looks to never have been a way to get a car there. 

If it is ex-LA housing (it looks like it) then it was fairly common for one general style of larger houses to include a flat-roofed ground floor area that typically contained one or more of: a toilet, a coal store, a general store room, a wash room.  The small window at the side suggests these ones probably had/have at least a toilet in that space. (the then 'modern' version of older properties that had an outside toilet)

Section62

AliceMitchell said:

Hi, we're interested in buying this house. All it's neighbours have drives but this house doesn't although there is a large front garden see picture. We would plan to get one put in but before we buy wanted to know if there could be a reason why it wouldn't be allowed? Obviously we'd need a dropped curb too. If anyone knows estimated prices this would be appreciated too.

The main issue would be the cost of excavation and constructing fairly substantial retaining walls - these will need to be engineer-designed because of the risk of causing subsidence to the house if they aren't designed and constructed properly.

Ideally the parking space would go adjacent to the neighbouring one to the left, as that way you'd only need two walls rather than three.  I'd guess the boundary/retaining wall was constructed by/for the neighbour on the left - it would be in their interests to agree to you having your space adjacent to theirs as this would mean that wall could be removed.  Unfortunately there is a street lighting column on the boundary line, which the council would want moving if you created a parking area adjacent to the neighbours.  There would be a cost for that, but likely still less than having to build a three-wall parking area.  There may also be a problem if the council has a policy against side-by-side dropped kerbs, or a maximum dropped-kerb length.

Building the parking on the right-hand side of the plot would involve less excavation and lower walls, but you'd need to make alternative provision for the steps leading up to the house - which overall might cost more than having the parking on the left side.

Albermarle

On a very practical level, a sloping driveway like the next door neighbours, could be useful for other reasons.
Such as deliveries of heavy goods ( new washing machine etc) access to the house with pushchairs, wheelchairs etc.
Also unloading the car boot with shopping.

Section62

Albermarle said:

On a very practical level, a sloping driveway like the next door neighbours, could be useful for other reasons.
Such as deliveries of heavy goods ( new washing machine etc) access to the house with pushchairs, wheelchairs etc.
Also unloading the car boot with shopping.

They can be, but if the slope is too steep they can be dangerous in wet/icy weather.

NHBC suggest a maximum slope of 1:6 for private driveways.

There's also a potential need for transition lengths to reduce the risk of grounding - which adds (slightly) to the complexity of the design.

RHemmings

Albermarle said:

On a very practical level, a sloping driveway like the next door neighbours, could be useful for other reasons.
Such as deliveries of heavy goods ( new washing machine etc) access to the house with pushchairs, wheelchairs etc.
Also unloading the car boot with shopping.

When I moved into my house, they backed the truck up to the back wall of the parking bay thing. Then, everything including fridge and washing machine and other large things was passed straight from the moving truck to the higher level in front of the door. It worked very well. 

Dustyevsky

I've just had a level entrance and driveway to a private road. No complexity, just kerbing and surfaces + gates, but considerably larger than average to take/park commercial sized vehicles. I won't see any change out of £10k.

tooldle

What is at the back? Any possibility of adding parking to the back?