Raspberries in my garden

I have a small fruit patch in the garden which due to a young family, dogs, chickens and an allotment I am trying to keep as low maintenance as possible. What I would like to do is lay mypex weed matting around the fruit bushes and cover in woodchip as I have a real problem with nettles and other weeds growing through from under my neighbours fence.

If I do this how much space should I leave around the bottom of the raspberry bushes to allow for natural growth from the base of the plants and to be able to remove suckers?

That's fine by me as less mypex to buy. What about round gooseberries, red/black currants and blueberries?

Tell that to my red gooseberry! It clearly doesn't know the rules!

This is fine by me, though,  as I get free plants

Tell that to my red gooseberry! It clearly doesn't know the rules!

This is fine by me, though,  as I get free plants

I've gained a gooseberry bush as it layered itself and rooted well 

Luckily it fould a spot where the thick layer of leaf mulch had exposed some nice damp soil