Patio and driveway

Please note: different rules apply to paving over your front garden¹.

Elsewhere around your house there are no restrictions on the area of land which you can cover with hard surfaces at, or near, ground level.

However, significant works of embanking or terracing to support a hard surface might need a planning application.

If you live in a listed building, you will need listed building consent for any significant works whether internal or external.

Please note: The permitted development allowances described here apply to houses and not to:

• Flats and maisonettes (view our guidance on flats and maisonettes²) 
• Converted houses or houses created through the ‘permitted development’ rights for:
  • ‘Changes of use’ (Schedule 2, Part 3, Classes G; M; MA; N; P; PA and Q) (as detailed in our change of use section³)
  • ‘New Dwellinghouses’ (Schedule 2, Part 20)
• Other buildings
• Areas where there may be a planning condition, Article 4 Direction or other restriction that limits permitted development rights.

Also note that these rules only cover your patio/driveway. Any other work such as fences, walls and gates⁴ or a dropped kerb may require planning permission.

Electric vehicle charging outlets 

For information about the installation of an outlet for charging an electric car on domestic property, please see the details in the common project for electric vehicle charging points⁵.

Dropping kerbs

If you are making a new access into the garden across the footpath you will need to obtain permission from the local council to drop the kerbs and the pavement may need strengthening. This is to protect any services buried in the ground such as water pipes.

1. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/paving-your-front-garden
2. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/flats-and-maisonettes/introduction
3. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/change-of-use/use-classes
4. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/fences-gates-and-garden-walls
5. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/electric-vehicle-charging/electric-vehicle-chargers