Understanding Planning Application for Driveway Conversion

Ravelleman

I am going to create a driveway that will occupy roughly half of my front garden and intend to go down the route of seeking planning permission, as I believe this will cause less problems in the long run. However, I am having trouble understanding exactly what the planning application must encompass.

Construction of the driveway will require removal of a section of wall to the front of the front garden (widening of boundary access), followed by eventual dishing of the footpath by DCC. The driveway will be built on an area currently occupied by lawn and the path from the gate, which I also intend to relay due to an uneven and potentially dangerous surface. The new car space will probably be paved, rather than, say, coated in tarmac.

What exactly must the planning application represent? Is it the removal of the wall only or must I also include the parking bay which will be inserted into the garden? If the removal of the wall only, it will pretty much be the OS map with that piece of wall removed, but if the parking bay must be shown then this will be more complicated. Either way, I will have an engineer draw it to scale but it would be helpful to know how to give proper instructions.

A lot of the neighbours have not gone down the planning and dishing route, though in my case I want to, as I live opposite a park and want to be able to give a clear visual indication that others will no longer be able to park across the front of the house.

Penn

You have to take into consideration drainage (eg. If replacing grass with paving, there will then be rainwater runoff onto the road, you need to show how you're addressing this), sightlines/visibility showing that you have adequate visibility when pulling in or out of the new driveway for safety of road users or pedestrians, you need to show what the new site boundary will look like, if there'll be gates or piers etc.

starbaby2003

It is really, really difficult to get planning for a drive way if the road is utilised for parking. This is more likely the reason your neighbours have gone down that route. Your first port of call should be to see if any neighbours were refused planning. You can check that on the planning website. This should help with what you need to do. https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/do-i-need-planning-permission-to-drop-kerb-outside-my-house-1.3088041

Ravelleman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117845650#Comment_117845650

Thanks for the tip on the planning website, which probably should have been self-evident from the start! I see that a number of neighbours who also face on to the park, including next door, have successfully applied for planning to widen and dip over the last 10 years or so. The previous applications give the information on what will be involved very clearly.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117845636#Comment_117845636

I see now that it is indeed the more complex of the two scenarios I put in my message, but that certainly makes sense in light of what you say. Even looking at the garden now, I see that there is one drainage point to consider in the plan.

Overall, I expect that it will be possible to get approved once everything is properly considered and prepared.