Driveway cost 2026: prices per m² and for one and two cars

Block paved driveway in front of a brick detached house

A new hard-surfaced driveway in Shropshire typically costs roughly £700 to £2,000 for one car and £1,400 to £4,100 for two, before extras such as digging out, edging, drainage and a dropped kerb. Tarmac sits at the bottom of that range, block paving at the top, and resin bound in between. Gravel is cheaper still.

These are estimates built from national 2026 price guides, not quotes. We have not seen a published Shropshire-only figure. One national guide puts the Midlands at about the national average for resin drives, so the figures below are a fair starting point.

Price per square metre, by material

Material	Typical installed price per m²	Notes
Gravel	About £20 to £40	Cheapest; needs raking and topping up
Tarmac	About £40 to £60	Full dig out and relay; overlay on a sound surface about £20 to £40
Resin bound	About £40 to £70	Over a sound existing base; a new base adds about £25 to £45
Pattern imprinted concrete	About £50 to £90	Impermeable, so check drainage at the front
Block paving	About £70 to £120	Permeable blocks about £80 to £110

Sources: Less.co.uk driveway, tarmac, resin and block paving guides (April 2026); Homebuilding & Renovating (August 2026).

Published guides do not agree exactly. For example, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) quotes tarmac and block paving “from £25” per m², but that is the starting price for materials, not the finished job. Always compare like with like.

What a one-car and two-car drive costs

Shropshire Council’s dropped kerb guidance recommends a parking space 3.0 metres wide and, ideally, 5.6 metres deep from the highway boundary to the house. That gives about 17 m² for one car and about 34 m² for two cars side by side. We have used those sizes with the per m² rates above.

Material	One car (about 17 m²)	Two cars (about 34 m²)
Gravel	About £340 to £680	About £680 to £1,360
Tarmac (full dig out)	About £680 to £1,020	About £1,360 to £2,040
Resin bound over a sound base	About £680 to £1,190	About £1,360 to £2,380
Resin bound with a new base	About £1,110 to £1,960	About £2,210 to £3,910
Block paving	About £1,190 to £2,040	About £2,380 to £4,080

These are our calculations, rounded, and they are only a guide. Real drives are rarely perfect rectangles, and many include a path, a turning area or a slope. A 40 m² block paved drive, for comparison, is typically £2,800 to £4,800 according to one April 2026 guide.

Groundworks and excavation

The surface is often the smaller part of the bill. Paving maker Marshalls estimates that about 80% of a driveway’s cost is “the bits you don’t see”: the sub-base, ground preparation and labour.

A typical driveway needs excavating to firm ground and a sub-base of at least 150 mm of compacted MOT Type 1 stone, according to a quantity surveyor writing for Homebuilding & Renovating. Typical extras quoted in April 2026 guides:

Removing the old surface: about £10 to £20 per m² (up to £30 per m² in one resin guide)
Type 1 sub-base: about £8 to £15 per m²
Skip hire: about £200 to £350
Steps or slopes needing extra preparation: about £200 to £500

Resin can sometimes go straight over sound, level tarmac or concrete, which saves the dig out. That only works if the old surface is solid and free of major cracks, and it can affect drainage and planning (see below).

Drainage

If the drive is impermeable and more than 5 m² of front garden, the water must run to a lawn, border or soakaway on your land, or you need planning permission. A linear drainage channel (often called an ACO drain) typically costs about £200 to £600, or about £30 to £60 per metre.

A permeable surface avoids that, but needs a free-draining sub-base. On heavy clay, the GOV.UK guidance says a pipe to the roof-water drains may also be needed. If you do need planning permission, the Planning Portal fee schedule from 1 April 2026 lists £272 for operations within the curtilage of a house; ask the council which fee applies. Designing the drainage in avoids both the fee and the wait.

Our driveway planning guide covers the rules.

Edging

Edging holds the surface in place and gives a neat line. Guides put kerb edging at about £15 to £30 per linear metre. A two-car drive with edging on three sides of about 5.6 m, 6 m and 5.6 m (about 17 m of edging) would add roughly £260 to £520 on that basis.

Dropped kerb costs

You need council permission to cross the pavement, and the work must be done by an accredited contractor.

Telford & Wrekin Council: £273 application fee, paid when you apply. If refused, you get it back minus £50 for the inspection. You then pay a contractor from the council’s list, or your own accredited contractor.
Shropshire Council: charges a non-refundable application fee, payable when you apply online. The amount is not shown on its dropped kerb page or applicant guidance, so check it on the form. The fee covers the council’s administration and inspections; you pay the construction and any utility diversions on top.

For the construction itself, one national April 2026 guide gives about £800 to £2,000 including the council application. The FMB quotes London boroughs charging from £2,300. If utility apparatus has to move, Shropshire Council warns those costs “can be extremely high”, so get the utility estimate first.

How to keep the cost down

Get at least three itemised quotes listing excavation, sub-base depth, drainage, edging and surface separately, as the FMB recommends.
Ask whether your existing base is sound enough to keep.
Choose a permeable surface for a front garden, to avoid drainage channels or a planning application.
Check dropped kerb approval before you pay for the drive.

For the trade-offs between surfaces, read resin vs block paving vs tarmac, and for how long each lasts, see resin driveway lifespan and maintenance.

Planning a new drive? Get a quote from a checked local installer.

Common questions

How much does a new driveway cost in 2026?

For a typical one-car drive of about 17 square metres, expect roughly £700 to £2,000 for a hard surface and base, and roughly £1,400 to £4,100 for a two-car drive of about 34 square metres. These are estimates from national 2026 price guides. Removal, edging, drainage and a dropped kerb are extra.

What is the cheapest driveway?

Gravel is usually cheapest, at about £20 to £40 per square metre installed. Tarmac is usually the cheapest hard surface, at about £40 to £60 per square metre for a full dig out and relay.

How much does a dropped kerb cost?

There are two parts. The council application fee is £273 in Telford and Wrekin; Shropshire Council charges a non-refundable fee shown when you apply. The construction itself is extra, and national guides put the total at roughly £800 to £2,000, with London boroughs charging from £2,300.

Are Shropshire driveway prices cheaper than the national average?

We have not found a published Shropshire-only figure. One national guide puts the Midlands at about the national average for resin drives, so the national ranges are a reasonable starting point.