Warlingham, CR6
Driveways and Paving in WarlinghamPlateau Ground, Wide Frontages and a Clay Cap That Holds Water
Warlingham sits up on the downland plateau, so the levels are kind and the ground is unusually consistent. The catch is the clay-with-flints on top of the chalk, which is exactly the material that will hold water under a new driveway if the base is built without care.
Ten minutes from the yard
A Parish of Individual Frontages Which Is Why It Is Driveway Country
Warlingham is a short run north from our yard in Caterham and one of the areas we are in most often. Nearly every house here has its own access off the road rather than a shared parking court, so a new driveway is a real decision about how the front of the house looks.
Crockett & Crockett Paving is family run by Oli Crockett. Our own team, 27 years in the trade, and the core work delivered and managed by us: setting out the levels, the dig, the drainage, the base, the haunched edges and the surface. On this plateau the clay cap decides how deep the dig goes.
We cover Warlingham Green, Hamsey Green, Chelsham, Farleigh, Fickleshole and the lanes out towards Great Farleigh Green. Driveways come first here, in block paving, resin, concrete or shingle, and then patios and porcelain, garden rooms, pergolas and decking, garden walls, piers and retaining walls, rendering, fencing, turfing, artificial grass and drainage.
We are Marshalls accredited through their Register of Accredited Landscape Contractors and Driveway Installers, a London Stone registered installer and a Bradstone assured installer, with 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Fully insured, free written quotes, and we take on commercial and insurance work as well as domestic.
What is under the front garden
Clay-With-Flints Over Chalk and the Same Answer Almost Everywhere
Warlingham is plateau country and the ground is consistent in a way Caterham's is not. British Geological Survey mapping returns the same answer at Warlingham Green, at Hamsey Green, along the southern end of Limpsfield Road, at Chelsham and at Farleigh: White Chalk Subgroup bedrock beneath a superficial cap of the Clay-with-flints Formation, described as clay, silt, sand and gravel.
That cap is the working problem. It is a stiff, flint filled clay that holds water rather than passing it on, so a driveway here generally wants a proper depth of sub-base, a separation geotextile at formation and a positive outfall rather than an assumed soakaway. The same clay-with-flints sheet is what the Tandridge Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment maps across the North Downs, so it is not a quirk of one street.
The cap is not everywhere, though. Mapping off Farleigh Road returns chalk with no superficial cover at all, so on some plots you break out of clay and into chalk part way through the dig. The build up should follow the ground you find rather than the street you are on, which is why we would rather set the specification once the dig is open than print the same figure on every quote.
- Stiff clay full of flint: heavier digging, more spoil, and a sub-base depth that reflects it.
- Geotextile at formation so the sub-base and the clay stay separate instead of mixing.
- A positive outfall designed in, because a soakaway in clay-with-flints is a hope, not a plan.
- Where the dig breaks into clean chalk, we adjust the build up on site and tell you why.
The houses
Detached, Semi-Detached and Hardly a Terrace in Sight
The 2011 Census counted 3,365 households in Warlingham civil parish: 1,154 detached, 1,182 semi-detached, 283 terraced and 708 flats. Detached and semi-detached houses together are roughly seven in ten homes and terraces barely register. That is why the parish is such driveway country. Most frontages have their own access and their own decision to make about parking.
Ownership matters too. In the same Census, 43.6% of households owned outright, which is the profile of long standing owners replacing a tired surface on a house they mean to stay in rather than developers turning a plot over. On a job like that the base is the part worth arguing about, because it decides whether the drive is still flat a decade later.
The old core is genuinely old: All Saints' Church dates from around 1250 and St Christopher's was built in 1907 at the foot of the road to Chelsham. Most of the housing came later with commuter growth around the triangular green and along the main roads. The most recent large addition is the Greatpark estate, built in the early years of this century on the site of Warlingham Park Hospital, which opened in 1903, closed in 1999 and was demolished apart from its water tower. Farleigh, Chelsham and Fickleshole thin out into scattered farmsteads and roadside dwellings in open chalk farmland.
- Detached plots with room for a turning area, a planted island and a separate front path.
- Semi-detached frontages where the gain is a second car space without losing the garden.
- Greatpark estate frontages on the old hospital site, where the job is a relay onto a base built for the clay.
- Farm and lane properties with long approaches, where shingle and bound gravel earn their keep.
What we do most here
Wide Frontages, Sensible Falls and a Base Built for the Clay
The typical Warlingham job is a full driveway replacement: out with a cracked concrete or worn surface, down to formation through the flint clay, geotextile, sub-base in compacted layers, haunched edgings, then block paving or resin-bound on top. Because the frontages are wide, we usually design in a turning space, a bin standing and a planted strip rather than paving everything.
Back gardens here are generous, so patios tend to be substantial: porcelain terraces with a step down to lawn, decking and pergolas, garden rooms with the base and drained apron built by us before the building arrives. On the western edge of the parish, where the ground falls away sharply into the Caterham and Whyteleafe valley, the same garden may need a retaining wall and steps before any of that goes in.
- Block paved and resin-bound driveways with edge restraint haunched in concrete, not bedded on sand.
- Porcelain and sandstone patios, steps and terraces for the larger gardens off Limpsfield Road.
- Garden rooms, pergolas and decking, including the base, the drainage and the approach path.
- Gate piers, garden walls, retaining walls and rendering in brick that suits the frontage.
- Fencing, turfing, artificial grass and flower beds finished as part of the same job.
Levels, access and permission
Gentle Ground, One Boundary to Watch and No Neighbourhood Plan to Check
Elevations across the parish run from 110m AOD at Woldingham Road at its southernmost point, rising gently through the village along the main road heading south east to 199.6m at Limpsfield Road, with parts of the village around 200 metres above sea level. That gentle rise is why most Warlingham frontages are workable without heavy level engineering. The exception is the western edge, where the ground falls away sharply into the Caterham and Whyteleafe valley and plots behave more like valley side jobs.
Tandridge District Council is the planning authority and Surrey County Council is the highways authority for a vehicle crossover or dropped kerb. Hamsey Green is the one to watch: the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon runs through the area, so some CR6 addresses there fall to Croydon instead. It is worth establishing which council an address belongs to before any application goes in, and we check as a matter of course.
Unlike Caterham, Whyteleafe and Woldingham, Warlingham has no made neighbourhood plan. A Tandridge report records the parish council as considering whether one is the right tool, so for now the district's own adopted policies apply. The countryside around Warlingham, Chelsham and Farleigh is Green Belt, with Area of Great Landscape Value over much of it, and the conservation areas out that way are Fickleshole and Great Farleigh Green.
- Surrey's guidance: A, B and C roads need permission for a crossover, D roads may, and the district's written evidence goes to the county either way.
- Surface water from a non porous hard standing should be directed to a drain within your own property.
- Hamsey Green addresses get checked against the Croydon boundary before anything is applied for.
- Wide verges usually mean easy grab lorry access, which keeps muck away sensible.
Villages and neighbourhoods
Villages and Neighbourhoods Around Warlingham
The parish runs from the green out into open chalk farmland, and the work changes as you go. These are the areas we cover most, with the postcode district for each.
Our work
Warlingham Work of This Kind
Questions
Warlingham Questions We Get Asked
Which council do I deal with in Hamsey Green?
It depends on the address. The boundary with the London Borough of Croydon runs through Hamsey Green, so some CR6 addresses there are administered by Croydon rather than Tandridge District Council. That changes who you apply to for planning, and it is worth confirming the highways position for a crossover at the same time. We check the address against the boundary before anything goes in.
Will a soakaway work on my Warlingham driveway?
Often not, and it should never be assumed. The mapped ground across most of the parish is a Clay-with-flints Formation cap over White Chalk, and that cap is a stiff flint filled clay that holds water. We design a positive outfall instead of relying on infiltration. Where the dig breaks through into chalk, which happens on some plots off Farleigh Road, we tell you on site.
Can we pave the whole of a Warlingham front garden?
Most of it, yes, though the frontages here are wide enough that we would rather keep a planted strip and a proper front path and still fit two cars. On the planning side, the Planning Portal guidance treats porous or permeable surfacing of any size as needing no permission, while impermeable surfacing over five square metres that does not drain to a permeable area does. Tandridge is the authority for most of the parish.
Does Warlingham have a neighbourhood plan I need to follow?
No. Unlike neighbouring Caterham, Whyteleafe and Woldingham, Warlingham has no made neighbourhood plan. A Tandridge report records the parish council as considering whether a neighbourhood plan is the right tool for the area. Until one is made, Tandridge District Council's own adopted policies apply to your frontage, alongside Green Belt policy in the countryside around the village.
My house is on the western edge and the garden drops away. What does that mean for a patio?
It means retaining and levels before surfacing. The ground on that side falls away sharply into the Caterham and Whyteleafe valley, so we usually build a retaining wall, form the steps and set the drainage first, then lay the terrace on the level we have won back. We build the walls as part of the same project, rather than a bricklayer booked in later.
How deep do you dig a driveway here?
Deep enough for what we find. On the clay-with-flints cap that means a full depth sub-base laid in compacted layers over a separation geotextile, because if the sub-base mixes into the clay it stops working. We confirm the build up once the dig is open rather than printing the same specification on every quote.
Do you work in Chelsham, Farleigh and Fickleshole?
Yes, regularly. Those are Green Belt hamlets with much longer approaches and thinner development, so the jobs tend to be long shingle or bound gravel drives, gate piers, farm accesses and drainage. Fickleshole and Great Farleigh Green both have designated conservation areas, so the surfacing choice needs to sit sensibly with that.
Get a quote
Planning an Outdoor Project in Warlingham?
We are up in Warlingham most weeks. Call 01883 340429 or 07736 068672, or email info@crockettpaving.co.uk and we will come and measure it properly.
- Free, no-obligation quotationsIn writing, with the build-up and the drainage set out.
- 27 years in the tradeMarshalls Register accredited, Bradstone Assured.
- Fully insuredDomestic and commercial work across Surrey.
Arrange a free site visit
Tell us a little about the project and we will come out, look at the ground and put a written quotation together.
Where we work
Paving, Landscaping & Outdoor Construction Across Surrey
Based in Caterham, we undertake projects throughout Surrey and selected areas of Kent and West Sussex. For larger or more comprehensive projects, we are happy to consider work further afield.