External works

10

10.2Drives, paths and landscaping

This chapter provides guidance on meeting the Technical Requirements for drives, paths and landscaping, including:

private roads
shared private drives
private drives
car parking areas.

Definitions for this chapter

Commercial vehicles	Commercial vehicles are typically vehicles weighing in excess of 3.5 tonnes or capable of moving a payload of more than 1 tonne. Examples are delivery trucks, buses, large vans, bin lorries, and fire trucks.
Flexible retaining walls	Are typically walls that support the soil laterally and allow larger deformations of the unsupported edge of the wall compared to stiff or rigid retaining walls. Typical examples of these include any or a combination of the following: vegetated such as geotextile bagged walls, earth-reinforced and most gravity retaining wall structures such as gabion, crib, block or modular retaining wall systems.
Garden	Is the land within the curtilage up to 20m from the habitable parts of the home (i.e. not garages/outbuildings). This distance is measured from the external walls.
Home	Includes a house, bungalow, flat or maisonette.
Light vehicles	Light vehicles are typically vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes, and these include cars, SUV’s, vans and minibuses.
Private drives	Are usually located adjacent to a property and typically within the curtilage of that property. Private drives and parking areas where located away from the immediate vicinity of a properties would usually have a barrier to ensure it is only used by cars and or light vehicles.
Private roads	Are roads that are unadopted or not maintained at public expense. They are usually wide enough for single traffic in opposite directions simultaneously, and may or may not have adjoining footpaths. Private roads will be expected to support frequent use by commercial vehicles.
Shared drives	Are usually single track private ‘roads’ to access private drives or private properties. Shared drives would be expected to support the occasional commercial vehicles on them.
Shared parking	Are typically communal parking area, which is accessible to the general public but are not adopted. There is usually little or no restriction regarding what type vehicles they are accessible to. They can sometimes act a turning head at the end of a public/ adopted road. Shared parking and access road/areas to them are expected to support frequent use by commercial vehicles.