BASILDON and Southend are on opposite ends of the list as a new report has ranked Essex towns based on the amount of private outdoor space their properties have available.

The price of a house for new buyers has never been higher, with many people being unable to afford the inflated mortgage costs.

However, for many families, owning a property with a garden space is make-or-break when deciding the area to start their new life.

MG Timber and its digital marketing agency have created the Garden Space Report which helped rank the areas in Essex that have the highest outdoor space area, revealing the best areas to buy houses with a garden.

A spokesman for MG Timber said: “Out of 11 local authority districts listed in Essex, Basildon is ranked in fifth place for total private outdoor space with 19,051,140m2.

“However, Southend is ranked, ninth, in the bottom three areas for private outdoor space in Essex, with a total of 11,340,739m2.

“Essex has a total of 827,064,363m2 green space area.”

Rochford ranks just below Southend at tenth with 11,340,739m2 of total private outdoor space.

The data was collated using the numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) around access to gardens and public green spaces in Great Britain.

Tony Cox, Southend Council and Conservatives council, said: "This result is not surprising given the fact we are a largely urban place within a small geographical area.

"Despite this, across our City we have a fantastic award-winning offering of green flag parks, open spaces and blue flag and Seaside award beaches. 

"We’re proud of these accolades as they really show the quality offer available to residents and the millions of visitors, we welcome every year to our City."