Driveways Built to Last in Oxfordshire

Often, yes. Resin-bound is laid as a seamless permeable surface, so there are no joints for weeds to find and no blocks to sink or shift. It drains through itself, which usually keeps you inside SuDS rules without a soakaway. The catch is that it is only as good as what sits beneath it: laid over a tired base it will fail, so budget £25–50 per m² more if a new sub-base is needed. Block paving is easier to repair in one spot and more forgiving of heavy vehicles.

Not usually, provided the surface is permeable — resin-bound, gravel or block paving laid to drain — or the water runs off to a border or soakaway inside your own boundary. Front gardens over 5 m² surfaced in something impermeable that drains to the road do need permission. Dropping the kerb to create a new vehicle crossing is a separate application to the county council, and that part is not optional.

Budget £1,000–2,500 all in. The council sets the fee, and the total depends on how many kerb stones move, whether the footway needs strengthening, and whether a street-works licence is required. The application goes through Oxfordshire County Council and typically takes a few weeks, so it is worth starting it before the driveway itself is booked in.

A straightforward 40–60 m² driveway is usually four to seven working days: a day or two to dig out and cart away, a day for sub-base and edgings, then the surface itself. Resin-bound needs a dry spell and cures within hours; block paving can be laid in most weather. Allow longer if drainage, a retaining wall or a dropped kerb is part of the job.

It is the compacted stone layer under the surface — typically 150–250 mm of MOT Type 1 for a car driveway, laid in compacted layers over a geotextile membrane. It carries the load; the surface only spreads it. Almost every failed driveway we are called out to look at failed here, not at the top. It is also the part that is invisible in a quote, which is why the cheapest price is rarely the cheapest driveway.

Sometimes. Tarmac can be overlaid at £35–55 per m² if the base is sound and the levels allow, and resin-bound can go over existing concrete or tarmac in good condition. But if the old surface is cracked, moving or holding water, an overlay just hides the problem for a season. We will tell you honestly which of the two you are looking at.

We are based in Wantage and work within about 30 miles of it — across Oxfordshire, West Berkshire and North Wiltshire, including Oxford, Abingdon, Didcot, Wallingford, Witney, Faringdon, Bicester, Thame, Henley, Reading, Newbury and Swindon, along with the villages in between. We also build across Surrey within about 15 miles of Guildford and Woking — including Godalming, Farnham, Camberley, Weybridge and Dorking. Send us your postcode and we will come and measure up.