Anybody clued up on planning/law etc
 

so to cut a long story short here is a brief rundown of my problem.

bought a new build house last year (26th august handover date), the house is a 3 bed detached with driveway leading to garage and front garden. i wanted to rip up all the front garden and turn it into extra parking space as we have 3 cars.
i asked jelsons, i asked my solicitor and nobody could give me a clear yes or no. in the end i spoke with the 2 site managers who told me to speak with the council, so i spoke with them who told me i have full permitted development rights and any surface at the front must be a permeable surface ie gravel. so i got my landscaper to carry out the work, using a proper sub base/permeable weed fabric and white gravel on top with a block paved edge.

this was 11 months ago (sept 2017 work was completed)

today i have had a letter stating that i must remove all the gravel and replace with turf as the county council highways consultant will not adopt the road due to loose gravel within 5 meters from the highway. we have 60 days to complete this or face possible court action. there are two other properties on my street that have done the same and also had the same letter.

my argument is that the council have said as long as i use the correct surface i have full development rights. also when we took the property from jelsons it comes with gravel leading down to the path/road so how can they expect me to dig mine up when they clearly provide it to you.

here is a before and after pic, a pic of the letter and a pic of my neighbours driveway with gravel provided by jelsons.

im totally digging my heels in on this one. anybody had any similar issues or can see a weak point in my defence.

i have the email trail with the council as proof of our conversation.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...ab834ed4f9.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...19e277e480.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...e16aa642e1.jpg

Speak to a planning consultant

Who did you speak to at the council, who gave permission ?
was it in writing, or a recording of the call ?

Seems like a council excuse to avoid adoption ; there are millions of gravel or shingle driveways meeting the public roads all over the country. Infact, because of the change in law that parking surfaces must be permeable, the amount of shingle drives has increased massively. If professionally installed, with a retaining strip, stones won't travel to the highway, and as you are on an estate, passing vehicle speeds will be negligible. Good luck battling bureaucracy though.

spoke to a planning support officer via emails which I have archived.

Reading the letter, what they are suggesting as suitable materials is wrong, as none are fully permeable ; you can bind shingle topping by using a binding layer over the sub base, and then compacting the shingle into it, like new forest hogging/path gravel. They would still probably consider it loose. It appears that the PP for your estate expressly excluded loose gravel in front gardens, but this seems to be on the whim of some office bound planner, and not based on practical reality.
If they insist on turf, you can buy reinforced plastic interlocking sections, that the grass grows through, to support vehicles.
What you have done looks good, and a hard surface like they suggest will only make it look like an office Park, definitely not in keeping

Update time.....

literally just had a letter come through from jelsons who are now saying that as i have proof of the local council approving what ive done they have decided to let me keep my gravel driveway as they have no legal ground to make me take it up.

****ING RESULT :)