Ah, but those who make pervious systems will be able to have the pants off us won't they.

It will be interesting to see them try to enforce this one. What are they going to do, survey every house so they know who has and hasn't got tarmac/concrete/chippins/bark etc etc first?

Growth of government definitely unsustainable, but they will keep "building their pyramid" until we stop passing them blocks. Not a penny more I say!

In what time frame has this paving over taken place?

Water will run off from any type of ground. Once full of water it will run off from previous paving too.

> Most impervious surfaces are made of concrete. Just stop using the stuff. I park my van on grass.

Just as long as it's next to a path that meets Part M (Disabled Access).

The council tree officer insisted our driveway was gravel to protect nearby trees, then the BCO insisted there had to be a surface suitable for wheel users to get to street level. In the end he allowed our gravel driveway because "we are in the countryside so most wheelchair users will arrive by car". We ended up constructing a gravel drive with a parking area/ramp of reinforced grass.

Hmmm so paving our gardens is a no no, but building on a flood plain is quite ok

This doesn't seem as big a problem as the fact that a lot of our towns and citys are built on old flood plains.

But on the other hand, we do drain all our surface water into these rivers that are bursting their banks. So I can see a link here.

more soak-aways I say!

Which information?

on the news the last day or two

formal -- planning will be required for impervious paving -- ie a fee for one thing.

if you look at a typical town / city expansion, where houses number the thousands, and those little detached boxes are rammed into sites at 10-12 per acre, and each house has a driveway, and is served by roads, a CONSIDERABLE area of that landscape is now hardstanding.

Water run off from an impervious surface is instantaneous, and straight to drains and water courses.

Normal farmland releases water at something like 4 litres per hectare per second.

SUDS requires developers to attenuate run-off to meet virgin greenfiled levels, and not flash flood local watercourses down stream.

Look at West Edinburgh. What a total f*ck-up, and all the problems of the Gyle and further afield meet to cause the 1 in 200 flood scenario on the River Almond to occur with frightening regularity.

Yes - YOUR driveway is a small part, a miniscule part of the problem. Doesn't give you an excuse to ignore it.