Front gardens: To pave or not to pave?
Paving over your entire front garden can have a serious impact
on the natural and urban environment. Replacing gardens with
hard surfaces:
- increases the chance of flooding
- decreases the appearance of properties and can lower their
value
- increases water pollution
- decreases biodiversity
Did you know? The London Assembly has found
that almost a quarter of the front gardens in South-East England
are now completely paved over: an area equal to 5,200 football
pitches!
Planning permission now required to pave over your garden
New planning legislation means that planning permission is now
required to pave over your garden with more than 5 square meters of
non-permeable surfaces.
There are circumstances where permission is not required.
For more information, please refer to the Government
guidance:
Using permeable surfacing and planting more vegetation prevents
the flooding of your property and improves its appearance (and
potential value).
Redbridge’s pound for pound tree planting scheme
Trees improve and enhance the environment of Redbridge. The '£
for £' scheme allows you to get involved in the planting of new
trees in your local area. Under the scheme, the Council will
finance 50% of the cost of supplying and planting trees in
Redbridge.
An application for the scheme can be made for any location
within the Borough, on private or public land.
