No Dig Driveway

[CMG25]

Been asked to look at and price a driveway - customer wants a handstanding surface such as block paving but has been told by council that it’s a no dig area. 
I have checked and can see there is a TPO on a purple leaved plum tree situated in the front garden and was looking for clarification on how to determine the root protection area as it’s not personally something I’ve dealt with. 
 

Could this still be dug as per normal methods if outside of the RPA or on the border of it?

[Mark Bolam]

RPA is typically 12x trunk diameter.

 

This should at least give you a ballpark of if you can dig or not.

 

There has been a big shift over to demanding porous or at least semi-porous drive surfaces now, so that’s something that’s also worth checking.