Driveways in Olton
Olton was farmland until the station opened in 1869, and what went up afterwards is some of the oldest housing in the borough. Large Victorian and Edwardian villas sit alongside interwar semis. Driveway work here nearly always has to respect a frontage that was designed before cars existed.
About Olton
The Olton conservation area is one of the biggest in the borough and takes in the period houses on St Bernard's Road and Kineton Green Road. Many of those properties still have their original tessellated path, low brick wall and iron gate, and the right answer is usually to keep them and build the drive around them rather than clear the lot. Materials count for more here than almost anywhere else we work: clay pavers and natural stone sit properly against red brick, grey concrete block does not. Away from the conservation area it is interwar semis with the same tight frontages you get over in Shirley.
Weather and drainage
Plenty of Olton frontages face north behind mature hedges and trees, so they stay damp through the winter and go green and slippery. A permeable surface and a decent fall help, but a shaded drive still wants a wash down once a year. The ground under the old villas is clay with a lot of buried Victorian rubble sitting on top of it, so we dig out to something firm rather than build on whatever we find.
Olton postcodes we cover
B92.
Planning and dropped kerbs in Olton
Permission is only needed for a new front driveway over five square metres that uses a hard, non-permeable surface and drains onto the road. Choose a permeable finish, or send the water to a border, and no permission is needed at any size. A new vehicle crossing over the footpath is a separate application to Solihull council, and it takes weeks rather than days, so start it early. More detail is in our guide to driveway planning permission.
What we lay in Olton
- Fixed written quotes Priced by the square metre, in writing, before anyone lifts a spade.
- No cold calling, ever We do not knock doors and we never turn up with spare tarmac.
- Insured local installers Public liability cover on every job. Ask and we send the certificate.
Get a price in Olton
Free site visit, measured up, fixed price in writing.