If you're paving your front garden, I'd start with a surface the rain can soak through, like permeable block paving. Then the driveway needs no planning permission, whatever its size. Cover more than five square metres with a solid surface water can't get through, and you will need permission. The exception is solid paving that sheds its rain onto a lawn or border to drain away.
The first thing I look at is the ground underneath. Permeable blocks want sandy or gravelly soil, not clay, and a steep drive may not suit them. Whatever goes down, I'd lay it falling away from the house wherever I can, so rain soaks into your garden instead of running onto the road. Paved fronts with nowhere for water to go add to local flooding, because the drains can't cope.
A dropped kerb is a separate application to the council, and you need their permission first. On a classified road or in a conservation area, it needs planning permission too. I'd also make the parking space deep enough that your car doesn't hang over the pavement.
Sorting the ground, the fall and the paperwork before anyone digs saves you a drive that puddles or sends water into the road. Call me while you're still planning. I lay block paving across Twickenham for M&R Property & Paving Services, and I'll look at your soil and slope and tell you straight what will work.
