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More and more home owners in London are becoming
frustrated.
Not with the usual suspects of high rents, spiraling
council tax, or noisy neighbours.
It's with the lack of parking. So what
are they doing about it?
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| A
massive proportion of suburban gardens have become
carparks |
Simple - they're creating their own space. It's easy to
do - it requires no planning permission and can be done in a
weekend.
And of course, paving over the front garden doesn't
just mean you get the car parked - it means you don't have to
exercise those green fingers too.
Wildlife wilderness
But this comes at a cost.
The alternative parking slots are becoming widespread,
and so is the environmental damage.
One alarming statistic says a great deal - paved front
gardens cover three times the total number of London
roads.
What does this mean for the environment as a
whole?
With a diminishing number of pleasant suburban gardens,
with shrubs, trees and lawns, comes two environmentally
damaging problems.
The garden is a natural habitat for so much wildlife,
such as birds, mice, squirrels and insects, but it's rapidly
disappearing.
And, importantly, the natural drainage that gardens
offer is simply not there.
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| Floodwater struck London's streets, homes and
businesses |
Londoners all too readily recall the damage of the
floods of August 2004.
Millions of litres of water wreaked havoc in homes and
businesses.
And a major contributory factor in the flooding was the
extensive paving of gardens.
An average suburban garden, on an average rainy day
will soak up about 10 litres of rainwater a minute.
But during the floods in August 2004, there was an
average of 100 litres a minute.
Draining off
With a paved garden, the rainwater runs off and
straight into the road drains.
If they can cope, the rainwater then simply drains away
to the local watercourse. For example, in Ealing, it would
drain away to the River Brent.
Philip Belman is Senior Ranger with Ealing Council, and
is very concerned at the potentially catastrophic amounts of
water that needs to be coped with.
"The water which goes from a driveway," he says, "in
Ealing or anywhere in west London, goes straight into the
river system.
"So what would normally be 1ft of water in the River
Brent, rapidly becomes about 6ft of water."
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| Naresh Jain has suffered severe financial
setbacks |
The storm damage of August 2004 was huge.
The owner of the London Guest House in Acton, Naresh
Jain, estimated that his, then newly refurbished, building
suffered about £60,000 worth of water damage.
"It's put me back nearly a couple of years," he says,
"the paving over is wrong and they shouldn't do it, but there
again, there's a parking problem in every borough."
Environmental action
Things are becoming so serious that one environmental
group, Ealing Local Agenda 21, has taken it upon themselves to
survey the number of houses that have paved their
gardens.
Christine Eborall is a member of the group, and
explains their actions.
"The survey is designed to measure the proportion of
Ealing's gardens that are hard-surfaced.
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| Christine Eborall feels there are simple
solutions at hand |
"I think we're going to find a fairly shocking figure,"
Christine explains, "the vast majority are substantially
hard-surfaced, much more than they need to be."
Solutions
There are some uncomplicated alternatives that are in
the reach of anyone who is contemplating the garden becoming a
car park.
Christine Eborall would urge the use of two hard
standing strips set in the conventional garden.
This design would provide good access for a vehicle yet
still allow for proper drainage too - and, of course, leave a
feeding ground for the birds.
Other solutions come in the form of differing material
for the hard-standing.
One type of block paving is designed with vertical
channels for drainage - this sells for between £50 - £60 a
square metre.
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| There are a number of eco-friendly paving
solutions available |
There is a slab made from recycled plastic, gravel and
crushed glass - this sells for between £70 - £125 (laid) a
square metre.
Another simple solution is to simply lay gravel - and
at £2 - £5 a square metre - this could provide the perfect
compromise, as it also performs a drainage function
too.
So if you're stuck for a parking slot at home, and the
garden is lined up to take those four wheels - take a long
hard look at the options.
Join Sumit Bose with
Inside Out London
on Mondays
on BBC One at
7.30pm
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