The national Permitted Development rule applies county-wide: permeable surfacing (permeable block paving, resin-bound or gravel) or impermeable surfacing under 5m² draining to a lawn or border needs no permission. Conservation areas and Article 4 directions — common across the Kent Downs National Landscape (AONB), Canterbury's World Heritage buffer zone and parts of Rochester and Tunbridge Wells — remove those rights, so checking your district council's planning map is always step one. Every driveway we install is designed to meet drainage requirements as standard — so in most cases there's nothing extra for you to worry about. If your property has any unusual circumstances, just ask and we'll advise.

Most of Kent sits under Kent County Council (KCC) Highways for dropped-kerb applications: £500 fee (£231 refunded if declined), 28-day decision target, two-year approval validity. There are two exceptions — Medway is a unitary authority that handles its own applications (£331.40 inspection fee, approved-contractor list), and Bexley is a London borough with its own process under the London Plan. We handle the application end-to-end with whichever authority covers your address.

Kent's geology changes dramatically across the county — Gault and Wealden clay around Maidstone and Tonbridge, Lower Greensand along the Sevenoaks ridge, chalk downland through Canterbury and the North Downs, London Clay with Taplow gravels in Bexley, and river alluvium on the Medway valley floor. We dig a trial pit or inspect the existing substrate before quoting, because a spec that works on Canterbury chalk will fail on Maidstone clay.