Parking is difficult in London

The problem with paved front gardens

With parking spaces in short supply in many London streets, it’s understandable that those lucky enough to have a front garden have paved over them to make room for a car.

However, paved non-permeable surfaces prevent rain from being absorbed into the ground, so instead the rain runs off the surface overwhelming drains, and causing floods.

But there are options available now that allow for parking as well as drainage…

Alternatives to non-permeable paving

Below we outline some of the more permeable approaches you could use on your driveway:

Gravel

This is one of the cheapest permeable materials, and if you’re worried that the gravel will slide off your driveway you can used recycled plastic grids (sometimes known as ‘matrix pavers’) to hold the gravel in place.

Porous asphalt or concrete blocks

This kind of hard surfacing is built to allow water to soak into the permeable material below. It looks just like traditional non-permeable paving.

Grass

If you want to make your front garden as green as possible, grass is an option. You can avoid it turning into a muddy mess by using grass reinforcement systems or wheel tracks made of hard surfacing for your car to drive over.

A border rain garden or soakaway

Even having a small amount of green space in your front garden means you have somewhere you can direct water to away from a non-permeable surface.

Extra benefits

Making changes to your front garden may sound like hard work, but even adding in a small area for planting can make a difference when it comes to reducing the impact of flooding. But there are lots of other advantages too:

• Greener front gardens can reduce air pollution, and the ‘heat island effect’ where hard surfaces absorb heat in the day and release it at night
• Making space for planting gives you the opportunity to choose plants that help support biodiversity
• If you have space for a hedge or tree you might find you have more privacy and less noise
• There is increasing evidence that gardens and green spaces are associated with better physical, social and mental health
• Building a new or replacement driveway from non-permeable materials will often require planning permission

Where can I find out more?

For more detailed information on permeable paving options see the Royal Horticultural Society’s permeable paving in front gardens webpage, and the Environment Agency’s Guidance on the permeable surfacing of front gardens.