Block Management in Ferndown
No river warning area applies; surface water ranks third in Dorset.
Taking on a block in Ferndown, we would cover its management, estate upkeep and leasehold administration for the RMC, RTM company or freeholder. No river warning area covers the town, but the county strategy ranks it third in Dorset for surface water risk, with 33 property flooding reports in the 2013 and 2014 winter. With no conservation area and one listed building, most external works are ordinary permitted development questions.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Ferndown
Keep Drainage Ahead of Surface Water
The council's assessment names Cobham Road, Trickett's Cross, Morden Avenue, Burnbrae Road and Dene Walk, and 26 of the 33 reports in the 2013 and 2014 winter were internal. We would schedule drainage inspections and fund repairs through planned maintenance.
Maintenance and repairsInsure on the True Exposure
No warning area covers the town, and the two that name Ferndown stop 612 metres and just over a kilometre short. We would place insurance on the surface water exposure the county strategy records rather than on a description match.
InsuranceConfirm Permitted Development Before Specifying
With no conservation area and one listed building, a K8 telephone kiosk, external redecoration and window replacement here are ordinary permitted development questions. We would confirm that for each block before specifying works rather than assuming heritage consent.
ConsentsAssess Fire Safety for an Older Population
In Ferndown North 40.9 per cent of residents are aged 65 or over and 7.9 per cent are 85 or over. We would make sure fire risk assessments for a block here reflect that resident profile in their evacuation assumptions.
Fire risk assessmentsManaging a Block in Ferndown at a Glance
- Local authority
- Dorset Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Dorset Council Building Control
- County
- Dorset
- Fire and rescue service
- Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Bournemouth Water or Wessex Water for supply depending on the address, with Wessex Water for sewerage
- From our Plymouth office
- About 103 miles in a straight line
- Setting
- Inland
What It Costs to Move a Block in Ferndown 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.
Surface Water Ranks Ferndown Third in Dorset
No Environment Agency flood warning or alert area meaningfully covers Ferndown. The Lower Stour tributaries alert touches the town's boundary, but the overlap is two square metres. Two warning areas name the town in their published descriptions, one of them naming the Bridge House Hotel in Ferndown. Their mapped areas stop 612 metres and just over a kilometre short of the built-up area, so neither applies here. The real exposure is surface water, and it is substantial. The county flood risk management strategy ranks Ferndown town third in Dorset for surface water risk, with 368 vulnerable receptors in a 1 in 30 year event rising to 862 in a 1 in 200 year event. It recorded 33 property flooding reports in the 2013 and 2014 winter, 26 of them internal, the highest in the former East Dorset district. The streets named in the council's assessment are Cobham Road, Trickett's Cross, Morden Avenue, Burnbrae Road and Dene Walk. The Gladelands flood study, issued on 17 February 2016, investigated the flooding of a park of about 100 residential park homes on 24 December 2013. The watercourse is the Uddens Water, gauged just outside the town. For a block here, drainage maintenance and insurance placed on the surface water exposure matter more than river warnings.
One in Five Households in Flats, and an Older Population
The built-up area holds 6,199 households with 1,287 in flats, 20.8 per cent. They are made up of 1,137 in purpose-built blocks, 68 in a converted or shared house, 26 in another converted building and 56 over commercial premises. The two Ferndown wards together hold 7,960 households, more than the town's own 6,199, because ten output areas from Ferndown South are assigned to the neighbouring West Moors built-up area. Those output areas are still in Ferndown Town parish, so ward, parish and built-up area are not interchangeable. Residents are older than average: 40.9 per cent of Ferndown North is aged 65 or over and 7.9 per cent is 85 or over. The comparable figures are 29.6 and 4.3 per cent for Dorset and 18.4 and 2.4 per cent for England. That bears directly on fire risk assessment evacuation assumptions and on the service residents of a block here expect.
One Listed Telephone Kiosk and No Conservation Area
There is no conservation area in Ferndown. None overlaps the built-up area, and the five designations within about three kilometres, at Hampreston, West Parley, Muscliffe Lane, Throop and Canford Magna, all fall outside it. For a managing agent that simplifies matters considerably. External redecoration, window replacement, rooftop plant and boundary treatments here are ordinary permitted development questions rather than heritage consent questions.
One listed building stands in the whole of the built-up area, a K8 telephone kiosk, listed as recently as 10 April 2025 and graded II. There is no Grade I and no Grade II* building in Ferndown, and no registered park or garden. Two scheduled monuments sit within the town, both bowl barrows. The town grew mainly in the twentieth century, and listed building consent will rarely be a factor in works to a block.
Every Square over the Town Is in the Lowest Band
The lowest band throughout, with no variation at all. All fourteen one-kilometre squares covering the built-up area are in the lowest class. There, under 1 per cent of homes are at or above the action level, and the published advice is that radon measurement is not advised. A block's compliance record can note this without arranging measurement.
That is national advice about the ground, not about the building. The same map excludes basements, cellars and underground spaces at every band, so an enclosed plant room, undercroft or lower-ground flat is still worth a look even here, and whatever is found belongs with the compliance record.
Two Rural-Era Directions, Neither Aimed at Blocks
Two Article 4 directions overlap the edge of the town, and neither is the kind of amenity control that usually matters to a block. The first, made on 27 September 1983 and covering land east of Forset View Drive, restricts the use of land as a caravan site beyond 28 days in a calendar year. About a quarter of it falls inside the built-up area, amounting to under a third of one per cent of the town. The second, made on 30 January 1980 over Parley Common at West Parley, removes a wide set of older rights. They cover dwellinghouse extensions, porches, outbuildings, hardstandings and oil tanks, gates, fences and walls, exterior painting, and agricultural and forestry operations. Only 0.39 hectares of it reaches the built-up area, seven hundredths of one per cent of the town. Both are rural-use directions from the era of the 1977 development order rather than conservation controls, so neither is likely to affect works on a block.
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Ferndown Questions
Do the Article 4 Directions Near Ferndown Affect Our Block?
Very unlikely. One, from 27 September 1983, restricts caravan site use east of Forset View Drive and covers under a third of one per cent of the town. The other, from 30 January 1980 over Parley Common, removes older householder rights but only 0.39 hectares reaches the built-up area. Both are rural-use directions rather than conservation controls.
Is Radon Testing Advised for Communal Areas in Ferndown?
No. All fourteen one-kilometre squares covering the built-up area are in the lowest class, with under 1 per cent of homes at or above the action level, and the published advice is that radon measurement is not advised. The answer is the same at every address in the town.
Why Do Household Figures for Ferndown Differ Between Sources?
The two Ferndown wards hold 7,960 households, well above the town's own 6,199, because ten output areas from Ferndown South are assigned to the West Moors built-up area. Those areas are still in Ferndown Town parish, so ward, parish and built-up area are not interchangeable. Within the town, 1,287 households live in flats, 20.8 per cent, mostly in purpose-built blocks.
Nearby Areas
Talk to Us About Your Building in Ferndown.
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