Most homeowners assume that paving is one of the few jobs you can crack on with unannounced, and for a great many patios that is true. But the rules around driveways, raised patios and surface water are more particular than people expect, and getting them wrong can mean an enforcement notice, a dispute with a neighbour or a soggy lawn every time it rains. Before you order a pallet of slabs, here is what actually applies in England, and what a good contractor will check before quoting.

Front gardens and driveways: the five square metre rule

This is the one that catches people out. Since 2008, laying more than five square metres of hard surfacing in a front garden requires planning permission unless one of two conditions is met. Either the surface itself is permeable or porous, such as gravel, permeable block paving or porous asphalt, or the rainwater is directed to a permeable area within your own property, typically a lawn, border or soakaway. Pave the whole front garden in impermeable slabs and run the water straight to the kerb and you need an application, and you are also making local surface water flooding worse in exactly the way the rule was written to prevent. Rear gardens are not covered by this restriction, but the drainage principles below still apply.

Patios at the back: usually permitted, with exceptions

A patio laid at or near existing ground level in a rear garden is normally permitted development and needs no application. Permission is generally needed where:

• The patio is raised: a platform, deck or terrace more than 300mm above the ground falls outside permitted development.
• The property is listed: listed building consent may be required, including for work within the curtilage.
• You are in a conservation area or an Article 4 area: permitted development rights are commonly restricted, so check with your local planning authority first.
• The property is a flat or maisonette: permitted development rights for householders do not apply.
• A restrictive covenant applies: this is not planning law, but it is still legally binding and is often found on newer estates.

Raised patios are also worth thinking about from a neighbourly point of view. A terrace built up to boundary level can overlook a neighbouring garden, and that is one of the most common reasons a retrospective application is refused.

Dropped kerbs and access from the road

Creating a new vehicle access is a separate consent from anything to do with the paving itself. You apply to the highway authority, which in this area is Norfolk County Council, for a vehicle crossing, and the work on the footway and kerb must be carried out by an approved contractor. If your property fronts a classified road, an A, B or C road, you will need planning permission as well. It is worth confirming this before you commit to a driveway layout, because access constraints, visibility splays and the position of lamp posts, drain gullies and utility covers can all change where the entrance can go.

Where the water goes matters more than the paving

Every square metre of hard surface you add is a square metre that no longer soaks away naturally. Building Regulations Part H sets a clear order of preference for surface water: a soakaway or other infiltration system first, a watercourse second, and a sewer only as a last resort. Two things are simply not allowed: discharging surface water onto the public highway, and directing it onto a neighbour's land. A properly designed scheme will include:

• A percolation test: a simple on-site test that shows how quickly your ground absorbs water and therefore how large a soakaway needs to be.
• A correctly positioned soakaway: kept at least five metres from any building so you are not saturating the ground next to foundations.
• Falls away from the house: a fall of around 1 in 80 across the paving, running away from the walls rather than towards them.
• Channel or linear drainage: across driveway entrances and along the base of the house where levels leave nowhere else for water to go.

Get this stage right and the patio looks after itself. Get it wrong and the first heavy autumn downpour will show you exactly where the problem is. Our groundworks and drainage team designs the drainage alongside the paving rather than as an afterthought.

The damp-proof course line

One detail is worth singling out because it causes lasting damage and is expensive to put right. Finished paving must sit at least 150mm, roughly two brick courses, below the damp-proof course of the house. Bridging the DPC by laying a new patio over the top of the old one is one of the most common causes of rising damp in an otherwise sound wall. Where levels genuinely will not allow it, the answer is a drainage channel or a recessed gravel margin along the wall, not a shrug.

What is under the paving decides how long it lasts

Planning rules aside, the difference between a patio that still looks good in fifteen years and one that sinks and rocks within two is almost entirely in the preparation:

• Sub-base depth: around 100 to 150mm of compacted MOT Type 1 for a foot-traffic patio, and 150mm or more where vehicles will drive and turn.
• Proper compaction: laid and whacked in layers rather than dumped in one go.
• Full bedding: slabs laid on a full mortar bed, not on five dabs, which is the classic cause of cracked and rocking slabs.
• Edge restraints: haunched edgings so block paving cannot creep and spread sideways over time.
• Tree awareness: check for protected trees, and keep excavation out of root protection areas.

A quick checklist before you start

Run through this before any materials are ordered: is the area at the front larger than five square metres, and if so is the surface permeable or draining to a permeable area within the property; is the patio raised more than 300mm; is the property listed, in a conservation area or covered by an Article 4 direction; do you need a vehicle crossing from the highway authority; where will the surface water actually go; and will the finished level stay clear of the damp-proof course. If the answer to any of those is unclear, a short conversation with your local planning authority before work starts costs nothing and removes all the risk.

If you are planning a driveway, patio or wider landscaping scheme in Wymondham, Norwich or across Norfolk and Suffolk, we can survey the site, confirm what consents apply and design the drainage properly from the outset. Take a look at our fencing and patios service, then get in touch with the Young's Construction team for a free, no-obligation quotation.