Driveway paving that lasts and drains

A conventional driveway sits on compacted crushed stone, usually the material contractors call MOT Type 1. It has plenty of fine particles, which make it very firm but also slow to drain. It is the right base for an impermeable surface where the water runs off to a drain, a border or a soakaway.

A permeable driveway needs a different base. Government guidance on permeable front gardens describes open-graded materials, such as 4/20 or Type 3 sub-base, made of larger stones with voids between them that hold water until it soaks into the ground. They are compacted just as firmly, but water passes through. Laying permeable blocks on a Type 1 base defeats the purpose, because the water stops at the base.

In both cases the guidance recommends a geotextile membrane over the soil, so that the sub-base does not sink into it. Soft spots found when digging out should be removed and refilled. The contractor should tell you the depth of sub-base planned and why.

Permeable surfacing is not right for every driveway. The same guidance says driveways steeper than about 1 in 20 may not suit it, because water runs down through the base and out at the bottom. On very clayey soils, water soaks away slowly, so a pipe in the sub-base to the roof water drain is a sensible precaution. Land contaminated by previous uses may need a sealed design connected to drains.

Where permeable surfacing is not practical, an impermeable driveway can still avoid a planning application if the water is directed to a lawn, border or rain garden on your property. Water should never be directed towards the house or onto a neighbour's land. A drainage channel across the bottom of a driveway that slopes towards the house or garage is essential, and it has to connect to an appropriate drain.

• surface product and colour, and permeable or impermeable
• sub-base type, depth and whether a geotextile is used
• how water is managed: through the surface, to a border, soakaway or drain
• levels at the house, garage and pavement, and channel drains
• edging and kerbs along lawns and borders
• work to inspection chambers and meter boxes
• ducts for an EV charger, lighting or gates
• the dropped kerb: who applies and who builds it

Not every driveway has to be fully paved. Two paved wheel tracks with gravel or low planting between them are one option described in the government guidance. Plastic or concrete grid systems filled with gravel or grass let cars park on a green surface without rutting. Loose gravel on a proper base is cheap and permeable, although it scatters and needs a firm strip at the entrance to keep it off the pavement.

Driving over a pavement without a dropped kerb is illegal. You apply to the highway authority, usually through the council website, for a vehicle crossing. The council decides whether a crossing is allowed at that point, considering things like visibility, street trees, lamp posts and the depth of your front garden, and sets its own fees.

Planning permission is not usually needed for the dropped kerb itself, but the Planning Portal lists cases where it may be: a classified or trunk road, a property divided into flats, a listed building or conservation area, or where structural work is needed to make the parking area. The work in the pavement must be done by a contractor accredited under the New Roads and Street Works Act with suitable public liability insurance, and many councils publish a list or do the work themselves. Your driveway contractor may not be allowed to build it.

While the drive is dug up, lay ducts for anything you may want later: an electric vehicle charger, gate motors, lighting or a garden tap. A duct costs little now and saves lifting new paving later. Think about gates too: they need posts with proper foundations and space to swing without hitting a parked car.

Heavy vehicles, such as a delivery lorry reversing onto the drive or a skip lorry dropping a skip, can crack block paving and sink the base if it was built only for cars. Tell the contractor if the driveway will take anything heavier.

Tell us the size of the area, what is there now and what you would like. We verify your phone by text and your email by link and then offer the request, anonymised, to paving firms nearby. One firm can buy it, and we email you its name, address and phone number before it sees your details. You pay nothing and do not have to accept the quote. Offrano checks only that the firm is registered, so ask it how the sub-base will be built and how water will be managed.