Telford & Wrekin 'one of best places in England to build your own home'

Landscaping experts Marshalls have looked at a range of different factors and say that Telford & Wrekin hops in at number two as the best place to build your own home.

First place on the list is Newcastle-under-Lyme and Wolverhampton is in sixth in the top 10 of all local council areas in the country.

Marshalls said: "Telford and Wrekin takes second place with a Home Build Index Score of 7.71.

"While this part of the West Midlands has a slightly higher planning approval rate of 90.40 per cent, the cost of residential land in the area is higher than in Newcastle-under-Lyme at £1,230,000 per hectare."

The company looked at the cost of land and construction to planning approval rate, and put together a Home Build Index that ranks every local authority in England.

Telford and Wrekin is reported to have a residential land value of £1,230,000 per hectare, construction costs are lower than the national average by four per cent.

But it also has about 80 rogue traders per 100,000 people in the region

The West Midlands as a whole is the best region along with the east of the country for building it yourself.

At the other end of the scale, Tower Hamlets in east London is the council area where it is the most difficult to build your own home, having received a Home Build Index score of just 2.78.

The cost of residential land in this inner London borough is incredibly high at an astonishing £39,885,000 per hectare, while the planning approval rate is very low at just 51.55 per cent.

The inner London area also has much higher than average costs of carrying out construction work, adding to the potential expense of building

For more information visit the Marshalls website here: www.marshalls.co.uk/gardens-and-driveways/blog/home-build-index