Garages and Hard Standings
Hard standings, paving in front gardens and garages
Letchworth's planners could not have anticipated the current level of car ownership, nor how busy roads would be today, and the consequent demand for off-street parking. It is important to ensure that the appearance of houses and their surroundings are not spoilt by the introduction of insensitively designed or positioned garages, large areas of inappropriately surfaced hard standing and the removal of hedges and fences. The consent of the Heritage Foundation is required for all garages, frontage hardstandings and boundary treatments, when the following guidance will be applied.
In the Garden City of the new Millennium...
- Motor vehicles per household are on the increase
- There is limited scope for more on-site car parking within the majority of residential plots.
- Many of the earliest built roads are narrow and here, capacity to accommodate more parked cars 'on street' does not exist.
- Increases in the average size of motor vehicles means that many garages are now too small.
The combination of these factors threatens soft landscaping and garden areas at the front of some Garden City homes. Clearly, if more and more front gardens are lost in order to make way for hard standing for cars, the integrity of the Garden City environment in residential areas will be lost. We cannot allow this to happen.
Hardstandings and paving in front gardens
The construction of hard standings in front or side gardens normally requires the prior approval of the Heritage Foundation. This includes hard surfaces in rear gardens where the height of the ground is being raised with, for example, revised decking. This consent is required under the terms of most leases and for freeholders, under the Scheme of Management.
The addition of hard standings can have a significant impact on the visual character of the property and surrounding area. Damage to the character of the area can be caused by a single property owner undertaking such works or a number of property owners hardsurfacing their frontages. The recent trend to hardsurface frontages with brightly coloured paviors can cause a particular problem as they tend to be neither sympathetic to the character of the house nor the locality.
The Heritage Foundation seeks to ensure that such works cause minimal damage to the visual quality of the Garden City Estate. It appreciates the need and desire for people to park their vehicles off street. Therefore in most instances a small hard standing to accommodate a vehicle can, in principle, be acceptable. However, at least 50% of the frontage should normally be retained as soft planting, shrubs or lawn.
There is concern about the amount of front hedging which is being removed to accommodate new parking areas. These hedges are an important part of the character of many parts of Letchworth giving it a rural feel. The Heritage Foundation will seek to ensure that as much of this hedging is retained as possible. In circumstances where a group of properties have an unbroken hedge line, consent to make a break in the hedge for a hard standing may be refused. The retention of pedestrian gates will be encouraged.
Once the principle of a hard standing has been accepted, consideration should be paid to design and surfacing materials. Tarmac, mass concrete or brightly coloured paviors will not normally be accepted, especially in the Conservation Areas. Use of neutral coloured materials will be encouraged, such as gravel, stone or concrete setts. There should be an element of landscaping to soften the hard surfaced area, either immediately adjacent to the hard standing or between 'run in' areas.
Garages and side drives
If there is room for a garage, it should be designed in sympathy with the house to which it relates, and should, if possible, be set back from the front building line. In some cases, it may be possible to lessen the visual impact of the garage by turning it on the plot so that the doors are not immediately visible. Building materials, doors and roof should be in keeping with the house. Brick built, or rendered blockwork garages with pitched roofs are preferable in the older residential areas, but where the garage is to be sited close to neighbouring property, a correctly detailed flat roof, with a brick-on-edge coping, may be preferable.
If you are considering removing an existing garage, converting it to provide more living space, or building over a side drive, you need to consider the following guidance.
There are five likely scenarios for existing garages:
- A garage only to the side of the house;
- A rear garden garage accessed via a driveway from the front of the house;
- A rear garden garage accessed from the rear;
- A garage in the front garden; and
- A garage integrated into a side extension or the house
In the case of the first four, provided the vehicular access to the garage is retained, there is unlikely to be a problem. In scenarios 1 and 2, it is acknowledged that the side drive may not be wide enough for use by modern cars. The side vehicular access, or one parking space behind the front buidling line, should be retained where the side access is 2.3.
Where the garage is integrated into a side extension to the house, scenario 5, extra care is needed. The internal width for a garage, with today's cars, should be 2.4m. Many existing 'integrated' garages fall well short of this standard. In these cases, a different approach is needed to increase the options:
- Is there any potential for vehicles to access the garage from the rear of the plot or property?
- Is it possible to create an alternative front access e.g. perhaps through agreement for joint access with a neighbouring property?
- Is there enough space in the front garden to create sufficient car parking spaces for the size of the house without infringing the 50% rule?
For a one bedroomed house we will ask for one parking/garaging space. Two bedroomed houses will need two spaces, three bedroomed houses will need three spaces and four plus bedroomed houses will need four spaces.
You must ensure that any proposals are submitted with a clear indication of the number of bedrooms in the house, the amount of space, and for how many vehicles, needed for car parking. It is important that any additional frontage parking area is well masked through hedging and soft landscaping.
Caravans and Commercial Vehicles
It should also be emphasised that the consent of the Heritage Foundation is normally required for the siting of a caravan or commercial vehicle on the frontage of a property within the Letchworth Estate. Clarification from the Heritage Foundation should be sought regarding this matter.
Submitting An Application
Prior to starting works, plans indicating the proposed hard standing, landscaping (existing and proposed) and the relationship with the dwelling should be submitted to the Heritage Foundation for consideration. Advice on what is likely to be acceptable can be obtained from the Estates Management Unit.
Works should not commence on a hard standing until prior approval has been received. A licence from North Herts Highway Partnership is also normally required for dropped kerbs on to adopted roads.
Grants
The Heritage Foundation will consider providing a grant towards the cost of removing excessive hard standing areas, in priority areas and replacing missing hedges elsewhere.