Block paving driveways in Newport Pagnell.

Walk along the Poets Estate or Green Park and most fronts are the same shape: a strip of lawn beside a single-width concrete drive laid when the houses were built. Lifting both and paving the whole width in block gives two parking spaces, a clean edge to the pavement and far less to keep tidy.

The old town is different. Around the High Street, Tickford End and Tickford Bridge the houses are period and many are listed, inside a conservation area. Here a brindle or buff block, chosen to sit with the old brick, is the starting point rather than charcoal, and a listed house needs listed building consent before anything at the front changes.

A shared drive on the Poets Estate is treated like any other front: more than five square metres of new paving must let rain through or run off gently to a lawn or border. Terry plans the base and the drainage together so the drive meets that rule without a planning application.

The estates have room on the drive for the van and a skip, so the road stays clear. A new or wider dropped kerb goes through Milton Keynes City Council: Terry handles the application and arranges the kerb with the drive, and the council approves the contractor and sets the fee.