house builder wants me to remove my driveway

24

Comments

  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    These are what I see as the essential points:

    1/ The road needs to be adopted, to aid you in future selling.
    2/ Your driveway is one of the things currently stopping it.
    3/ There's no point digging your heels in as you won't win against "the man" who can simply not adopt the road.
    4/ They do not have to tell you what is acceptable, that was for you to research - the system is set up with these hurdles; nobody "tells you what you should do" these days, they simply hit you when you broke a rule you didn't even know you needed to know.
    5/ There is no value in looking at the transgressions of others, just do what you need to do so you're not "part of the problem" from the other residents' perspective who are waiting for the road to be adopted.
    6/ Solutions have been given above: Bag up the gravel, lay a strip of artificial grass for now ... whatever it takes ..... revert once adopted.
  • comeandgo
    comeandgo Posts: 5,742 Forumite
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    Did you give the person at the council all the facts regarding the development? Did you explain it was new build, that the road has not been adopted etc. If you only gave half the story then the person could only give half an answer.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
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    loose gravel is a nightmare.

    Could have used gravel grids to stabilize
    Ask if that is an acceptable solution.

    have you checked the planning for the site?

    Land Outlands Drive Hinckley Leicestershire
    should find it.

    The plans from 2009 has you with 2 trees/bushes in your front garden
    http://publicdocuments.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00053067.pdf
  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 13,959 Forumite
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    What a shame that four properties so far have ripped up what were quite attractive front lawns and paths and replaced them with an unsightly mass of gravel. It looks terrible. As well as perhaps being unpopular with neighbours if you delay the adoption of the road, I suspect some aren't happy that the reality of their street looks nothing like the relatively green frontages in the brochures and showhomes.

    In reality, it's inevitable that most will go the same route and what was once quite an attractive street will look like a badly organised car dealership in a builder's yard.
  • onomatopoeia99
    onomatopoeia99 Posts: 6,957 Forumite
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    Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »
    What a shame that four properties so far have ripped up what were quite attractive front lawns and paths and replaced them with an unsightly mass of gravel. It looks terrible.
    Subjective.

    Gravel sounds and looks a much better option than grass to me.
    Proud member of the wokerati, though I don't eat tofu.Home is where my books are.Solar PV 5.2kWp system, SE facing, >1% shading, installed March 2019.Mortgage free July 2023
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    the_shreksta wrote: »
    If I have been wrongly advised then I put the blame to them, I can't be held accountable for something that was incorrectly relayed to me.
    You can blame who you like, but it won't resolve the problem. A council officer giving you incorrect advice doesn't alter requirements for adoption, nor override planning law/decisions. At best a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman might result in some compensation to offset the costs of any abortive work, but only if you have evidence which leads to a finding of maladministration.
    the_shreksta wrote: »
    Also why would any council be strict on extra parking areas being created on private land? Surely that's better than having the streets blocked up with cars.
    Councils want to achieve an appropriate mix of soft and hard landscaping within new developments and pay attention to how the completed development will look. If the approved landscaping design includes front gardens with grass then it is possible these areas have been counted as part of the overall percentage of 'green' area within the development.

    The other aspect is councils adopting restrictive parking standards to try and reduce car ownership and use. The theory is restricting parking spaces will discourage people from owning cars, so therefore a planning consent may be given including parking for one or two cars, but future owners/occupiers would be prohibited from increasing the number of spaces (usually by conditions and/or removal of PD rights). Sometimes this is coupled with designing the road layout to limit on-street parking and/or using parked cars as a form of traffic calming - as far as the planning authority is concerned as long as essential service vehicles can still get through, a residential road blocked up with cars is safer than one which is clear.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • stator
    stator Posts: 7,441 Forumite
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    Have you actually look at your contract with the builder to see what your obligations are and what restrictions they have placed on you?


    If your contract has obligations and you don't fulfil them, then they could take legal action against you.
    Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.
  • the_shreksta
    the_shreksta Posts: 84 Forumite
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    stator wrote: »
    Have you actually look at your contract with the builder to see what your obligations are and what restrictions they have placed on you?


    If your contract has obligations and you don't fulfil them, then they could take legal action against you.

    Hi

    Yes I have looked at them over and over again, there is plenty of stuff we are not allowed like a caravan on the drive/livestock/floor mounted satellite dish/sell alcohol etc etc but absolutely nothing regarding keeping the grass/not changing the front.
  • the_shreksta
    the_shreksta Posts: 84 Forumite
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    getmore4less wrote: »
    loose gravel is a nightmare.

    Could have used gravel grids to stabilize
    Ask if that is an acceptable solution.

    have you checked the planning for the site?

    Land Outlands Drive Hinckley Leicestershire
    should find it.

    The plans from 2009 has you with 2 trees/bushes in your front garden
    http://publicdocuments.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00053067.pdf

    Hi and thanks for the time spent finding that.

    That picture shows us sharing a front lawn with next door but that is not the case as Jelsons put gravel down between our houses. Also there are no bushes/trees/shrubs anywhere down gallus drive.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
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    here is a later(2012) plan for the planting
    http://publicdocuments.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00176711.pdf

    Your plot(221) still has a bush in it and a hedge
    says front gardens should be grass.

    here is the parking provisions for the site(2013).

    http://publicdocuments.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/AnitePublicDocs/00209890.pdf
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