Permeable driveways and drainage in Hastings
Where the water goes is a decision, and it gets made before anybody digs. This page is for anyone who has a drive that floods, a house that gets water against the wall, or a new drive that has to deal with its own rainfall rather than push it onto the road.
Permeable block paving
Price by email
Clean graded sub-base, open-graded laying course, grit-filled joints.
Linear channel drainage
Price by email
Supplied, bedded in concrete, connected and set flush. Depends on run length and where it discharges.
Work out a starting price for your own drive → · Why we're not the cheapest quote you'll get
Before anybody digs: three things to check
Planning permission, the kerb crossing and where the water goes. We work these out with you at quote stage — these pages explain the rules so you can check them yourself.
- Where the water is supposed to go →A permeable build-up is a drainage system with a surface on top — this explains what it has to cope with on clay and on chalk.
- Do you need planning permission? The 5m² rule →
- Dropped kerbs in East Sussex — who approves it and the order it goes in →
East Sussex Highways: dropped kerb (vehicle crossing) applications (opens in a new tab)The highway authority's own page, with its current fees, criteria and approved-contractor process.
Download the “Before anybody digs” checklist (PDF)Two pages you can print and take round the drive — planning, kerb, drainage, and the questions to ask before accepting anyone's quote.
When permeable is right — and when it isn't
When it's the right choice
- The drive slopes towards the house or the pavement and there is nowhere obvious for the water to go.
- You're surfacing more than five square metres and don't want to apply for planning permission.
- The existing drive puddles in the middle or ices over in the same spot every winter.
- There's no surface water drain to connect to, and the garden has somewhere a soakaway can sensibly sit.
When it isn't — say so and pick something else
- The ground is heavy clay with a high water table and no fall anywhere. A permeable build-up over ground that can't accept water just stores it — a collection system taking water to a proper outfall is the honest answer.
- You want a new surface laid over an existing solid concrete base. The top layer may be permeable but the concrete underneath isn't; the water still has to be collected.
- The budget is tight and the drive already drains freely onto a lawn or border. You may not need to spend the money at all, and we'll tell you so.
- The problem is one blocked gully. Clearing it costs almost nothing next to a rebuild.
How we deal with the water
First we work out where it currently goes and where it can go. That means the levels, the ground, the position of the damp proof course, and whether there's an existing surface water drain we're allowed to use. Nothing gets specified before that.
Falls are set away from the house, always — never towards it, and never onto the highway. Where the drive meets the road we set a channel drain flush across the entrance so nothing runs out onto the pavement. Where paving meets the house wall, a channel runs along it and keeps water off the brickwork below the damp proof course.
A permeable build-up uses clean, open-graded stone throughout, so the voids hold water and release it slowly. It is not the same material as a standard MOT Type 1 sub-base and it cannot be substituted for it halfway through a job — which is one reason we photograph the base before the paving goes on.
Drainage detail from our own work
Every photograph on this site is our own completed work. We don't name streets.
Filter our work by drainage details →
A fixed price before anyone starts digging
We measure, agree the build-up in writing and give you one price. It doesn't move. Not for hard ground, old concrete, rubble, roots or a soft spot — that's our risk and it's already in the number.
Zero deposit option for jobs that qualify — we confirm the terms with your fixed price.
Everyone else quotes "subject to survey" because they haven't checked the job properly. We do the survey first — measuring properly, checking levels and where the water goes, what planning rules apply, what has to come out, manholes, ducts, and access for digger and skip. So by the time we write the number down, we know what the job needs. That's why the price doesn't move, and why we can put it in writing before we start. If we ever do hit something, we stop, show you, and agree in writing what happens before we carry on. Ask your other quotes what they checked before they priced.
Ten years on the sub-base, ten years on the surface
Most guarantees quietly stop at the surface. Ours starts underneath it: the excavation depth, the membrane, the compacted sub-base, the falls and the edge restraints carry ten years, because that is the part that sinks and the part you can't check. The paving on top carries ten as well, because the laying is our workmanship — wear, staining and fair fading are the only things it doesn't cover, and the full terms say exactly which.
Common questions about drainage
What makes a driveway permeable?
The whole build-up, not just the top. Permeable block paving uses wider joints filled with clean angular grit, sitting on an open-graded laying course and a clean sub-base with no fines in it, so water drains through and is held in the voids until the ground takes it. Standard blocks on a standard sub-base are not permeable however wide the joints look.
Do I need planning permission?
Not for a permeable surface of any size, and not where the run-off goes onto a lawn or a border on your own land. You do need permission for more than five square metres of impermeable surfacing that drains onto the road. This applies to houses, not to flats.
Is a channel drain the same as being permeable?
No. A channel drain collects surface water and takes it somewhere — a soakaway, an existing surface water drain, or a permeable margin. It's a very good solution and it's what most of the drives we photograph have, but it's a collection system, not a permeable surface. The two are often used together.
Can the channel drain discharge into the foul sewer?
No, and we won't do it. Surface water goes to a surface water drain or a soakaway. Connecting it to foul drainage overloads the system and it isn't permitted.
How much more does permeable cost?
It usually costs a little more than the equivalent standard block build-up, because the sub-base material is a clean graded stone and the jointing grit costs more than kiln-dried sand. Against that, you may avoid the cost of a soakaway. We'll price both and show you the difference.
Do soakaways work on clay?
Sometimes, and not always. Some ground is clay, which drains slowly, so a soakaway has to be sized for it or sited where the ground is more open — or the water has to go somewhere else entirely. We test before we specify rather than assume.
Towns we cover
We cover Hastings and a 25-mile radius.
- Hastings
- St Leonards-on-Sea
- Bexhill-on-Sea
- Battle
- Rye
- Eastbourne
- Hailsham
- Robertsbridge