street parking versus a driveway

This is a typical view of a street anywhere in Britain. the roads were never designed for every family having at least one car, and possibly more.

The solution is therefore to concrete over the garden and park there or as seen here, to use part of the pavement as a designated parking space.

The problem with covering he front garden with concrete or tiles is that rain water cannot drain into the ground, and therefore runs of into the drainage system, which can then get overloaded and cause flooding.

RHS research found that almost a quarter of the front gardens in north-east England are now completely paved. The Guardian has a nice article on this subject

Paving also makes cities hotter because of retained heat. It's often ugly and wildlife has less greenery to fed on and nest in.

There are of course clever people who can park on 2 square meters or park two cars on top of each other like this pop up garage 

                         

The best solution if you need to make a parking space in your front garden, is to use one of the following ideas:

Gravel : Lets the rain drain through. Also has the advantage of letting you hear people approaching the house at night!

Spaced paving : with grass or low plants between the strips for the tyres

My least favorite thing would be artificial grass or permiable matting with grass planted in it - NAF!