Moves to ban solid drives
Typical block paving credit David Giles
Concrete and Tarmac Drives to be banned
More evidence is emerging that solid drives such as Tarmac could be banned. Under plans being drawn up, new houses would only be able to connect to the local sewage treatment plant if they could prove that they had a sustainable drainage system.
This comes as are we are told many of Britain's rivers are contaminated with a cocktail of chemicals, sewage, agricultural waste and plastics, which are potentially putting our health at risk as rivers are often the source of irrigation and domestic water supplies.
According to Pow, there is a lot of water getting into our drains and is muddled up with sewage that doesn't need to be there.
"So we need to have water butts in our gardens. We need to have semipermeable membranes on our driveways rather than tarmac so that water doesn’t rush in, it soaks in and holds the water.”
The debate as to how to best protect fresh water systems in England comes as the Environmental Audit Committee say only 14 per cent of English rivers meet good ecological status. In its report, it added that fats, oils and greases, and cleaning and hygiene products containing plastic, are also causing problems for drainage systems – while single-use plastic hygiene products are clogging up drains and sewage works.
Removing impermeable surfaces on our driveways and adding features such as ponds would help reduce the unnecessary overflow of sewage systems, it is claimed.
Therefore, new rules could require house builders to have sustainable drainage as part of a plan to clean up waterways.
The above is from an article in Somerset Live and is very worrying on several fronts. Firstly, I understood storm water is a separate system to foul water, such as from the kitchen or bathroom. Statements like "Removing impermeable surfaces on driveways" infers we will be told to dig up our drives and replace with what - gravel chippings? The physical and financial implications here are horrendous. Weare also being told we must have water butts and ponds. Are ponds safe where there are young children? Will retaining all the rainfall on our land lead to building damage? Surely if block paving is correctly installed to the BS standard using the correct grade of sub base and base and the gaps between blocks are filled using the proper kiln dried sand there shouldn't be a problem, yet it seems block paving is to be included in the ban.
There are too many questions that do not seem to have been answered before new policies are made. Let's hope someone with a little sense clarifies the situation and common sense prevails because the statements this MP is making sound very dangerous for us and our gardens.
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