Block Management in Bradford-on-Avon
No flood scheme is coming, so resilience at each building is the plan
Plymouth Block Management provides block, estate and leasehold management in Bradford-on-Avon for residents' management companies, right to manage companies and freeholders. In July 2025 the Environment Agency judged a permanent flood scheme for the town currently unviable after costs rose from 4.5 million to over 11 million pounds, leaving property level resilience as the plan. The town also has 319 listed entries and 133 flats in other converted buildings.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Bradford-on-Avon
Build Property Level Flood Resilience
The Environment Agency's forward position is property level resilience rather than a town defence, and its warning area names Bridge Street, Silver Street, St Margarets Street and Church Street. For a block there we would plan resilience works through the reserve fund and Section 20.
Major works and Section 20Brief Insurers with the Flood Record
Eleven accepted flood outlines intersect the town from 1925 to December 2013, and the scheme as designed would still have been overtopped in Storm Bert in November 2024. We would place insurance with that history disclosed and handle any claim.
InsuranceMeasure Radon, Including the Class 5 Corner
Six squares are class 2, one class 3 and one class 5 at 10 to 30 per cent. No square is in the lowest band, so we would arrange radon measurement in communal areas rather than rely on a town-centre reading.
ComplianceSurvey Mill Conversions Before Setting Reserves
The town has 133 flats in other converted buildings, the highest such count in this part of Wiltshire. For a converted block we would commission a survey and a fire risk assessment, then set the reserve fund from what they find.
Reserve fundsManaging a Block in Bradford-on-Avon at a Glance
- Local authority
- Wiltshire Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Wiltshire Council Building Control
- County
- Wiltshire
- Fire and rescue service
- Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Wessex Water
- Setting
- Inland
What It Costs to Move a Block in Bradford-on-Avon to Us
Management is a fixed annual fee, quoted for the building and agreed before we start. We take no commission and no third-party incentives, so the fee is the whole of what we earn from the building. Taking a block on carries a one-off start-up fee, set by size:
| Block size | Fee |
|---|---|
| Start-up fee, up to 10 units | £420.00 |
| Start-up fee, up to 25 units | £540.00 |
| Start-up fee, 50 units and above | £660.00 |
Taken from our published Additional Services price list, PBM Form #01-27 rev.6, effective 23 June 2025. All fees quoted are inclusive of VAT. See the full price list and how a handover works.
No Flood Scheme Is Coming, So Resilience Is the Plan
Bradford-on-Avon is the one town covered in this part of Wiltshire whose flood position is fully documented, and the documentation is unwelcome reading. The mid Bristol Avon alert covers 5.47 per cent of the built-up area and the Bristol Avon at Bradford on Avon warning area covers 3.97 per cent, naming Greenland Mills, Norden, Grist Court, Kingston Square, Bridge Yard, Lamb Yard, Bridge Street, Silver Street, Bull Pit, St Margarets Street, Church Street and Pound Lane. Eleven accepted flood outlines intersect the town, running from 1925 to December 2013, the largest covering 12.3 hectares in December 1960. The Environment Agency's own asset data records no walls, no embankments and no demountable defences here, only engineered high ground to a two year standard, and in July 2025 the agency explained why. It concluded, with the county council, the town council and the water company, that a permanent flood scheme for the town is currently unviable: the 2017 proposal of low walls and pumping stations has risen in cost from 4.5 million pounds to over 11 million, which is not possible within current central government funding, and even a cheaper version using temporary rather than permanent pumps would need around 1.7 million pounds in additional partnership funding. It added that the scheme as designed would still have been overtopped during Storm Bert in November 2024. Dredging, upstream and underground storage, automated barriers, a bypass channel, natural flood management and temporary barriers were all examined and rejected, and the forward position is property level resilience rather than a town defence. The earlier catchment plan put 75 properties inside the 1 per cent annual probability extent and expected that to rise to around 190, with three scheduled monuments, an electricity substation, a fire station, a police station, the A363 and the railway all at risk. For anyone managing a block here that is the single most important fact on this page: there is no scheme coming, and resilience measures at the building are the plan.
133 Flats in Former Mills, Schools and Churches
Both wards fit the town closely, at 94 and 95 per cent inside the built-up area, which is the tightest ward-to-town fit of the towns covered in this part of Wiltshire. Aggregating the output areas inside the town gives 4,539 households with 702 in flats, 15.5 per cent, made up of 456 in purpose-built blocks, 82 in a converted or shared house, 133 in another converted building and 31 over commercial premises. That 133 is the signature figure: flats in former schools, churches and warehouses, and the highest such count of any ward across the towns covered in this part of the county. It is the mills appearing in the census, and it brings with it the management questions that mill conversions always do.
The Densest Listed Fabric of These Wiltshire Towns
Two conservation areas, numbered simply No 1 and No 2 by the council. No 1 is recorded as designated in 1969, though only the year is published, and it is extraordinarily large relative to the town: 89.4 hectares, of which the part inside the built-up area accounts for 25.90 per cent of the entire town. That is by a wide margin the densest historic core coverage of the towns covered in this part of Wiltshire, against 14.4 per cent at Corsham and 3.8 per cent for the largest at Trowbridge. The character assessment is dated 2008, which is the only appraisal date that could be established for any town in this group, and it comes from the town's own neighbourhood plan rather than from the district council's website.
319 entries on the National Heritage List fall inside the built-up area, eight Grade I, 29 Grade II* and 282 Grade II, and 299 of them sit inside the No 1 conservation area. That works out at about 114 listed entries per square kilometre against 33 at Trowbridge and 28 at Chippenham, so this is the densest listed fabric of the towns covered in this part of Wiltshire, and it has the highest Grade I and Grade II* counts of them despite being the second smallest town. The second conservation area contains no listed buildings at all.
Nowhere in Town Falls in the Lowest Radon Band
The whole town sits in the band where measurement is advised, and one corner of it reads much higher. Of the eight one-kilometre squares over the built-up area, six are class 2 covering 87.2 per cent of the town, one is class 3 covering 8.6 per cent, and one is class 5 covering 4.2 per cent at 10 to 30 per cent of homes at or above the action level. No square anywhere in the built-up area falls in the lowest band, so unlike Melksham next door there is nowhere in this town where the national advice is that measurement is unnecessary, and a town-centre reading would understate the class 5 corner considerably.
Green Belt, a 2015 Core Strategy and a Withdrawn Plan
Decided under the Wiltshire Core Strategy, adopted 20 January 2015. The emerging Wiltshire Local Plan reached examination in November 2024 but was withdrawn on 22 May 2026, and its replacement is not expected to be adopted before 30 April 2029. The council states that the 2015 Core Strategy's policies are not automatically out of date despite its plan period having run to 2026, and will continue to guide development. The Bradford on Avon Neighbourhood Plan 2013 to 2026 was made in 2017; the referendum date, the vote counts and the turnout are not published anywhere reachable. A second edition is in preparation through a steering group and five topic groups, with the town council expecting it to take around a year from May 2026. One designation sets this town apart from the others covered here: it lies inside the Bristol and Bath Green Belt, and its own neighbourhood plan carries a dedicated Green Belt chapter. There is no Article 4 direction, checked against all 48 in the county.
Service charge or accounts query? Email accounts@
Bradford-on-Avon Questions
Is a Flood Defence Scheme Planned for Bradford-on-Avon?
No. In July 2025 the Environment Agency concluded, with the county council, town council and water company, that a permanent scheme is currently unviable. The 2017 proposal of low walls and pumping stations rose from 4.5 million pounds to over 11 million. Dredging, storage, barriers and a bypass channel were examined and rejected, and the forward position is property level resilience.
Which Streets Does the Bradford-on-Avon Flood Warning Area Name?
The Bristol Avon at Bradford on Avon warning area covers 3.97 per cent of the built-up area and names Greenland Mills, Norden, Grist Court, Kingston Square, Bridge Yard, Lamb Yard, Bridge Street, Silver Street, Bull Pit, St Margarets Street, Church Street and Pound Lane. The wider mid Bristol Avon alert covers 5.47 per cent of the town.
Which Plan Decides Applications Now the Wiltshire Local Plan Was Withdrawn?
The Wiltshire Core Strategy, adopted 20 January 2015, which the council says is not automatically out of date. The emerging Local Plan was withdrawn on 22 May 2026 and its replacement is not expected before 30 April 2029. The town also sits in the Bristol and Bath Green Belt, and a second edition of its 2017 neighbourhood plan is in preparation.
Nearby Areas
Talk to Us About Your Building in Bradford-on-Avon.
A free, no-obligation proposal, written so it can be circulated to a board.