PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
Disappearing Front Gardens… A Contribution to Flooding?

This summer saw the worst floods for many years.

Disappearing front gardens are a contributing factor to overflowing drains, therefore flooding. Gone are the traditional front gardens with a lawn and flowers beds and in there place a concrete platform for car parking. Leading on from that, the council erect a dropped curb removing the grass verge and or any tree in the way. In summary, all green gone replaced by grey concrete.

The result rain pouring off your drive out into the main drain putting untold pressure on an already overloaded drainage system. Absent front gardens also have other negative effects on the environment

Did you know a concrete front garden;

Absorbs heat during the day and releases heat during the night into your bedroom causing you to use fans and air conditioning units increasing your carbon footprint.
Can cause structural problems, with no water going into the ground shrinkage occurs causing cracks in walls and even houses leading to expensive repairs or worse, walls collapsing.
House prices can drop if a street adopts paved front gardens, shrubs, flowers and trees disappear not only from gardens but from verges as councils install dropped curbs.
Can increase asthma, plants and trees absorb dust and fumes balancing the atmosphere.
Nature is affected without plants and trees, wildlife have no homes and food chains breakdown as well as natures way of controlling pests and diseases.

You do not need to concrete the whole of your front garden for one car – you don’t concrete your whole back garden for one shed. In fact you don’t need any concrete to park a car. The easiest solution is gravel, it is permeable allowing water to past through it and into the ground. Look for locally sourced or recycled products, shrubs and flowering plants can be planted through it softening the overall look adding scents and colour. If you have a drive on an incline use paved tracks for the wheels of your car, the rest of the garden can be treated as you wish, you can plant certain plants like thyme or creeping jenny underneath the car they will still thrive. Cellular paving , recycled plastic ‘honeycomb’ matrix cells filled with locally sourced gravel or recycled glass or by products of the ceramic industry make a good, strong parking area. You can also use a similar product for reinforcing grass in recycled plastic.

A traditional front garden with good planting can provide screening and privacy for your property and give you a green and/or colourful outlook from your sitting room. Planted with the appropriate plants it can also be good security, no burglar will want to climb through thorny shrubs. As well as adding value to your property a well planted front garden can soften and enhance your property and street. Plants and flowers make a good home for wildlife and encourage insects into your garden, providing a natural control for pests and diseases.

Above all a traditionally planted front garden will contribute to lessening the threat of flooding to your home and environment as well a adding some plus points to your property and street. We all have to contribute to change – and changing your front garden or thinking through different ideas before paving or concreting your parking space seems a fairly small sacrifice to make. But one that could start making a big difference to our lives and lifestyles.