Block Management in Glastonbury
Two Article 4 directions name flats: front repainting and roof solar on named streets need permission.
Budgets, insurance, works and lease consents for Glastonbury blocks are all part of what we offer RMCs, RTM companies and freeholders. Two 2012 Article 4 directions apply to flats on parts of streets including the High Street, Magdalene Street and Chilkwell Street, removing the rights to repaint principal elevations and fit roof solar. Converted houses and flats over shops make up a large share of the town's flats.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Glastonbury
Apply Before Repainting or Fitting Solar
The 2012 directions remove rights to paint the principal elevation of a flat and to fit roof solar on parts of streets including Benedict Street, Bove Town and Northload Street. We would check the schedule document, not the council's summary page, and obtain permission first.
ConsentsWatch Below-Ground Space Near the Tor
The flood risk assessment identifies potential for groundwater flooding of property below ground level close to the Tor. For a block with a basement or semi-basement plant room there, we would schedule inspections for water ingress.
InspectionsRecommend Radon Measurement on the Tor Side
Two squares on the southern Tor and Wearyall side reach class 4 at 5 to 10 per cent, with six more in class 3. We would recommend radon measurement in ground-floor communal areas for blocks in those parts of town.
ComplianceSettle Apportionment for Flats over Shops
Flats over commercial premises are 8.9 per cent of Glastonbury's flats. For those buildings we would review apportionment between flats and shops and make sure insurance reflects the commercial use.
InsuranceManaging a Block in Glastonbury at a Glance
- Local authority
- Somerset Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Somerset Building Control, the council's own service covering the four former district areas
- County
- Somerset
- Fire and rescue service
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Wessex Water
- From our Plymouth office
- About 82 miles in a straight line
- Setting
- Inland
What It Costs to Move a Block in Glastonbury 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.
Both Article 4 Directions Name Flats Explicitly
Two Article 4 directions apply, and both of them name flats explicitly. The first, made 2 August 2012, removes permitted development rights for enlarging or altering a dwelling fronting a public highway or accessible space, for roof alterations, and for chimneys, flues and soil and vent pipes. It also removes them for gates, fences and walls at front or side, and for the painting of the exterior of the principal elevation of a dwelling house or flat. The second, made 30 August 2012, removes them for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal equipment on the roof of the principal or side elevation of a dwelling house or flat. Both cover parts of Benedict Street, Bere Lane, Bove Town, Chilkwell Street, Coursing Batch, Fairfield Gardens, Heritage Court, High Street, Lambrook Street, Magdalene Street, Northload Street, Silver Street, Street Road, Victoria Buildings and Wells Road. In practice, repainting a front elevation and fitting roof-mounted solar on those streets both need express consent. The council's summary Article 4 web page omits Glastonbury altogether, and the directions are only found in the underlying schedule document, so owners and agents who check only the summary page get caught out.
Converted Houses and Shop Flats Shape the Stock
The town held 4,058 households at the 2021 Census with 744 in flats, 18.3 per cent. They are made up of 505 in purpose-built blocks, 145 in a converted or shared house, 28 in another converted building and 66 over commercial premises. Converted or shared houses hold 19.5 per cent of all flats, and flats above commercial premises 8.9 per cent. That is subdivided historic houses and flats over High Street shops, and it is precisely the stock the town's Article 4 directions bite on. Apportionment between flats and shops, and insurance that reflects the commercial use, need settling in those buildings.
A Dry Island Above a Very Large Floodplain
A dry island in wet moors. The strategic flood risk assessment states that there are large areas to the north, west and south covered by the recorded flood outline but no recorded flood incidents affecting the urban area. It adds that no part of the urban area lies within Flood Zone 3 except a small area around Beckery and east of the A39. Tidal risk is described as negligible and the town is not at risk from reservoir flooding. 1.3 per cent of the built-up area is in Flood Zone 3 but 15.3 per cent is in Flood Zone 2, the pattern of a settlement sitting just above a very large floodplain. The East Somerset Rivers alert covers 16.3 per cent of the town. The two River Brue warning areas cover 0.2 and 0.0 per cent, because what they actually name is roads and moor: the B3151 to Meare, the A39 between Street and Glastonbury, Glastonbury Heath and Cradle Bridge. Groundwater is the mechanism to watch close to the Tor, where the assessment identifies potential for groundwater flooding of property situated below ground level. In practice that means basements and semi-basement plant. Five recorded sewer flooding incidents are logged. The town's historic high-water mark is 1606, measured by a marker in the chancel of St Benedict's Church at over two metres.
Eight Grade I Entries and Four Scheduled Monuments
One conservation area, designated in 1976 covering the Abbey site, the High Street and the streets immediately adjacent, and substantially extended in 1992 to add the Tor and the land around it. The July 2010 appraisal divides it into eleven character areas. It covers 1.135 square kilometres in total, of which 0.611 falls inside the built-up area, covering 18.3 per cent of the town. A large part of the designation lies outside the built-up area altogether, on the Tor. A block near the Abbey or the High Street should be checked against the boundary before external works are specified.
The council's 2010 appraisal counts approximately 170 listed buildings or structures in the conservation area, eight of them Grade I and six Grade II*, and notes that the Abbey precinct and St Michael's Church tower are also scheduled monuments. Historic England's current data gives 154 entries in the built-up area with eight Grade I and eight Grade II*. It gives 144 in the conservation area with nine Grade I, the extra one being St Michael's Church tower on the Tor, which is inside the conservation area but outside the town. The eight in the town are Glastonbury Abbey, the Abbot's Kitchen, the Abbey Tithe Barn, the Tribunal, the George Hotel Pilgrims Inn, the Church of St John the Baptist, St Michael's tower and the Church of St Benedict. The appraisal's Grade I list names the Chalice Well and omits St Benedict, while Historic England's current data does the reverse. Four scheduled monuments reach inside the built-up town. With this much high-grade listing, a block in the centre should have its status confirmed before works are specified.
Radon Rises Toward the Southern Tor Side
Class 3 at the town centre, 3 to 5 per cent of homes at or above the action level, and the pattern across the town is geological rather than random. Of the thirteen one-kilometre squares over the built-up area, five are class 1, six are class 3 and two reach class 4 at 5 to 10 per cent. The class 4 squares are the southern Tor and Wearyall side; all five lowest-band squares are on the northern edge toward the moors. No square anywhere in the town reaches class 5. Radon measurement in ground-floor communal areas belongs in the compliance record for blocks across most of the town, and above all on the Tor and Wearyall side.
Mendip Local Plan Sets 1,000 New Homes Here
Decided under the Mendip Local Plan: Part I adopted 15 December 2014, Part II adopted 20 December 2021 and the Part II limited update adopted 25 September 2025, which allocates replacement housing sites in Glastonbury. Core Policy 7 sets the town strategy, treating Glastonbury as a principal settlement serving a market town role. It provides for 1,000 new homes, 1,050 to 1,200 new jobs and the re-routing of heavy traffic from Chilkwell Street. There is no made neighbourhood plan; the area was designated in 2016 and the plan remains in production. Until one is made, works on a block are judged against the Mendip Local Plan and the two directions covering flats.
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Glastonbury Questions
Why Does the Council's Article 4 Page Not Mention Glastonbury?
The council's summary Article 4 web page omits Glastonbury, but the directions are in the underlying schedule document. Two were made in 2012, on 2 August and 30 August, covering parts of streets including Benedict Street, Bere Lane, High Street, Magdalene Street and Wells Road. Checking only the summary page is how owners and agents get caught out.
Is Glastonbury at Risk of Flooding from the Moors?
The town sits just above a very large floodplain. Only 1.3 per cent of the built-up area is in Flood Zone 3, while 15.3 per cent is in Flood Zone 2, and the assessment records no flood incidents affecting the urban area. The two River Brue warning areas name roads and moor, such as the B3151 to Meare, rather than town streets.
Is There a Glastonbury Neighbourhood Plan?
Not a made one. The neighbourhood area was designated in 2016 and the plan remains in production. Decisions are taken under the Mendip Local Plan, whose Core Policy 7 provides for 1,000 new homes and 1,050 to 1,200 new jobs, and whose Part II limited update of 25 September 2025 allocates replacement housing sites in the town.
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