Most concrete driveways do not need planning permission, but there is one rule that catches a lot of homeowners out: surface water drainage. Get that wrong and a job that should have been permitted development suddenly needs an application. Here is what actually applies in Chorley and the rest of Lancashire.
For a typical house, laying a hard surface to the front of your property is usually permitted development, meaning no planning application is required. The catch is the drainage condition introduced back in 2008.
If your new driveway is more than five square metres and uses an impermeable surface like standard concrete, you only stay within permitted development if the rainwater is directed to a permeable area within your own boundary, such as a lawn or border. If it just runs off onto the road, you will need planning permission.
Solid concrete is impermeable, so the run-off has to be managed. In practice that means laying the slab with a slight fall towards a planted border, a gravel strip, a French drain or a soakaway dug within your garden, rather than letting water sheet off onto the pavement.
A soakaway needs to sit at least five metres from your house and any neighbour's foundations, and it has to suit the ground. Heavy clay, which is common across parts of Chorley and West Lancashire, drains slowly, so the soakaway has to be sized properly or you risk standing water. This is the detail worth getting right before any concrete is poured.
Some situations sit outside permitted development regardless of drainage. If your home is a listed building, or in a conservation area such as parts of central Chorley, Croston or Rivington, check with Chorley Council before starting.
You will also usually need a separate vehicle crossing, or dropped kerb, if you are creating a new access or widening an existing one over the footpath. That is handled by Lancashire County Council as the highway authority, not by your driveway contractor, and it is a legal requirement to drive across a kerb.
A dropped kerb application through Lancashire County Council typically runs into a few hundred pounds for the permit and inspection, with the construction itself on top, and the figure varies with footpath width and whether utilities sit beneath. Always confirm current fees directly with the council.
For the driveway, the groundwork underneath matters more than the finish on top. A concrete drive that lasts means a properly dug and compacted sub-base, the right depth of concrete for vehicle loads, and drainage designed for your soil. Cutting corners on excavation is the most common reason a drive cracks or ponds within a few winters.
Yes. If the new hard surface is five square metres or less, or if any surface over that size drains to a permeable area within your boundary rather than onto the road, the drainage condition is met and no planning application is needed.
If there is already a legal vehicle crossing in place you can keep using it, but if you are creating a brand new access or your current kerb has never been formally dropped you must apply to Lancashire County Council first.
You risk breaching planning rules, which can mean an enforcement notice requiring you to alter the work, and you may cause water to pool or run onto the highway. It is far cheaper to design the drainage in from the start than to dig a finished slab back up.