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Crazy paving

Catherine Deshayes

Paving over your front garden might seem a good idea when you are returning from the supermarket with a boot full of shopping and there's nowhere on the street to park within half a mile...

Add up all the gardens lost to concrete and asphalt, however - London alone has lost the equivalent of 5,200 football pitches - and your parking solution becomes everyone's problem, especially when it rains.

A concreted or asphalted front garden places a serious burden on the drainage system: water can no longer soak into the ground, so instead runs off into the street. With ever-increasing downpours predicted as the climate changes, our elderly drains cannot cope. The result can be serious flooding - as we saw last year, with about £3 billion of damage caused.

Pollutants such as brake dust, petrol and oil get washed into the water and, sometimes, right through the drains and into rivers, affecting wildlife. In any case, frontage covered in asphalt or concrete, rather than greenery, is no friend to wildlife. As well as providing a "green lung", urban gardens are important as wildlife corridors along which birds, bees and beasties can move without disturbance, in turn doing their part to keep ecosystems in balance.

If water has a chance to soak into the ground, not only will it reduce the risk of flooding, it will evaporate back into the air, lowering temperatures. And, quite frankly, a paved-over front garden with nothing growing in it is as attractive as a supermarket car park.

Rules introduced by the Government last week aim to tackle the problem. Among them is a requirement to obtain planning permission if you want to cover more than five square metres of your front garden with any non-permeable surface.

A planning application costs £150, and for permission to be granted you must show that sufficient provision for surface-water drainage has been provided. That means no more willy-nilly concreting over the area in front of your house in order to park your cars: bad news for those looking for a berth for their Chelsea tractor, but good news for the environment.

Balance is key. Here are some suggestions that will allow cars and plants to live in eye-pleasing, nature-friendly harmony - and satisfy the planners.

Gravel: This is the easiest way to cover a drive, and one of the cheapest. It looks smart from the off, but make sure you choose a shade that doesn't clash with the house. A porous layer of geo-textile membrane underneath should stop weeds breaking through, although you could scatter plants through the gravel - hollyhocks, poppies and thyme, for example - if you don't want the area to look too formal. A strip of paving or asphalt at the entrance should keep gravel from spilling into the road.

The crunching sound when a car or the postman arrives is most satisfying - it puts one in mind of grand country houses - and gives you good warning of their approach should you be sun-bathing in the garden. Gravel isn't suitable, however, if you have a steeply sloping driveway, as it will eventually slide to the bottom.

Nor is it a wise choice if you have a wheelchair or buggy to deal with. Hard surfaces: Although they may look solid and water-resistant, some modern forms of asphalt and concrete blocks are porous or permeable (that is, they allow the water to drain, whether through the material itself or in the spaces between blocks).

They are the smartest and most easily maintained option for a driveway, although they can be expensive, and you should always get a reputable company to install them. Marshalls has a range of block paving designed to comply with the new rules. Wheel tracks: Usually 1ft-2ft wide, these are a neat, minimalist approach to hard standing, especially appropriate if you are a tidy parker.

They look good in brick or paving and, as long as the area doesn't cover more than five square metres, they can even be made of non-permeable materials - just make sure there are areas to either side that will soak up any runoff.

As well as grass around and between the tracks, you can plant low-growing species such as thyme and chamomile, which won't mind the occasional squashing. Grass: This provides a green blanket for the soil, but it can get muddy and ruin your shoes, especially on heavy clay. To prevent this, and to avoid ruts, you can grow grass through plastic mesh or perforated concrete blocks. If you choose a tough, low-growing variety, you won't have to mow it too often. Wyevale Garden Centres has a wide range of grass seeds.

Rain gardens: If you still want to use a non-permeable material, you can take horticultural advantage of it by creating an area of planting that is slightly lower than the surface, so the water can soak into it - this should also satisfy the planners.

You will need a largish garden in order to do this; and, if the soil is heavy you will have to line the area with gravel to provide adequate drainage. It is probably a good idea to get some advice from a trained landscaper on this one, unless you are a DIY expert.

Rainwater harvesters, such as butts and underground tanks, will cut down the amount of water that ends up in your garden in the first place.

Source: The Times