Block Management in Highworth
No flood warning reaches this hilltop town, but its listed buildings cluster in one conservation area.
Highworth sits within our coverage for block, estate and leasehold management, serving residents' management companies, RTM companies and freeholders. Not one of 196 Environment Agency areas tested reaches the hilltop built-up area, so flood is a closed question. Heritage is not: 86 of the town's 94 listed entries sit in the conservation area, whose appraisal draws on information collected in 2000.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Highworth
Obtain Consents for High Street Blocks
Of the 94 listed entries, 86 sit inside the conservation area, and five of the nine Grade I and Grade II* entries are High Street addresses. We would confirm listed status and obtain consents before specifying external works to a block there.
ConsentsAllow for an Ageing Appraisal
The appraisal was adopted on 4 April 2006 from information collected in 2000. For a Section 20 scheme in the conservation area we would check its descriptions against the building as it stands before specifying materials.
Major works and Section 20Keep Flood Disclosures Accurate
No warning area contains any part of the town, though four lie nearby on the Thames and the River Cole. We would make sure insurance disclosures state that no warning area applies to the block.
InsuranceCheck the One Class 2 Square
A single class 2 square clips 1.6 per cent of the town at its edge, where radon measurement is advised. For a block in that square we would recommend communal measurement; elsewhere the published advice is that it is not advised.
ComplianceManaging a Block in Highworth at a Glance
- Local authority
- Swindon Borough Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Swindon Borough Council Building Control
- County
- Wiltshire
- Fire and rescue service
- Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Thames Water
- From our Plymouth office
- About 137 miles in a straight line
- Setting
- Inland
What It Costs to Move a Block in Highworth 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.
Five of Nine Senior Listings Are High Street Addresses
One conservation area, first designated by Wiltshire County Council on 8 October 1976. Thamesdown Borough Council re-designated it on 25 June 1990, to take account of changes to the alignment of the east end of Brewery Street in the 1980s and to reflect the development pattern of the time. The appraisal and management plan were adopted by the council's planning committee on 4 April 2006. The appraisal notes that its information was collected during the year 2000, so it describes the town as it was a quarter of a century ago. The area covers 13.8 hectares, all of it inside the built-up area, amounting to 6.6 per cent of the town. Swindon Borough has 28 conservation areas in total. For major works in the area, the appraisal's descriptions should be checked against the building as it stands before materials are specified.
94 entries on the National Heritage List fall inside the built-up area: one Grade I, eight Grade II* and 85 Grade II. Of those, 86 sit inside the conservation area. The Grade I is the Church of St Michael, listed on 26 January 1955, and all eight Grade II* entries were listed on that same day. Five of the nine Grade I and Grade II* entries are High Street addresses. For a block on the High Street, listed building consent should be confirmed before any external works are specified.
Most Highworth Flats Are in Purpose-Built Blocks
The published figure for the Blunsdon and Highworth ward is 469 flats among 4,963 households. The ward is 39 per cent larger than the town, and only 72 per cent of its households are in Highworth, the rest being Blunsdon and the rural remainder. Quoting the ward would overstate the town's households by 1,398. Flats concentrate in the town: 94 per cent of the ward's purpose-built flats are inside it. Within the town's own boundary there are 3,565 households with 431 in flats, 12.1 per cent, made up of 351 in purpose-built blocks, 34 in a converted or shared house, 24 in another converted building and 22 over commercial premises. Most flats here are in purpose-built blocks, which suits planned maintenance and a steady reserve fund.
Not One of 196 Warning Areas Reaches the Town
No Environment Agency flood warning or alert area contains any part of the Highworth built-up area. Not one of 196 such areas reaches the town's boundary. Four come close, on the Thames between Calcutt and Lechlade at about 435 metres and on the River Cole at about 846 metres, and a radius search returns them as though they applied, which they do not. The council's conservation area appraisal explains why. It describes Highworth as a hilltop town, set in rural surroundings and occupying a pre-eminent position above the Upper Thames valley on a Corallian ridge running roughly east to west. The adopted local plan requires development to maintain its separate identity as a hilltop market town. Groundwater is not a designated issue, the nearest such area being about 16 kilometres away, and no defence scheme exists because none is needed. For a block here, insurance disclosures should state that no warning area applies.
Lowest Band Across 98.4 Per Cent of the Town
Effectively the lowest band throughout. The lowest class covers 98.4 per cent of the built-up area, with under 1 per cent of homes at or above the action level, and radon measurement is not advised. A single class 2 square covers the remaining 1.6 per cent at the edge of the town, where measurement is advised. A block in that square should have communal measurement; elsewhere radon is not a compliance item.
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.
Swindon Borough, Not Wiltshire, Sets the Rules Here
Highworth is in Swindon Borough, not Wiltshire, so its plan, its conservation area and its Article 4 position all come from a different authority than its neighbours. The Swindon Borough Local Plan 2026 was adopted on 26 March 2015 against a requirement of 22,000 homes. An emerging Local Plan for 2023 to 2043 reached its first consultation stage between 1 September and 13 October 2025, with the next stage planned for spring 2026. The plan treats Highworth as the borough's one market town: a freestanding settlement seven miles from Swindon that retains a market town function within its catchment. It names the town centre as one of only two primary rural centres and allocates at least 200 dwellings and five hectares of employment land to it. The Highworth Neighbourhood Plan 2015 to 2026 was made at a full council meeting on 13 July 2017, following an examiner's report of 22 February 2017. There is no Article 4 direction: the national register holds none for the whole borough, and the adopted local plan states that the council has no Article 4 direction in place in relation to houses in multiple occupation. The local plan calls Highworth a gateway to the Cotswolds, but that is tourism positioning and not a designation. The town lies outside the Cotswolds National Landscape, whose nearest boundary is about 8.6 kilometres away, so no National Landscape controls apply to block works.
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Highworth Questions
Is Highworth Inside the Cotswolds National Landscape?
No. The Swindon local plan calls Highworth a gateway to the Cotswolds, but that is tourism positioning rather than a designation. The town lies outside the Cotswolds National Landscape, whose nearest boundary is about 8.6 kilometres away. The plan instead treats Highworth as the borough's one market town and names its centre as one of only two primary rural centres.
Is There an HMO Article 4 Direction in Highworth?
No. The national register holds no Article 4 direction for the whole of Swindon Borough, and the adopted local plan states that the council has no Article 4 direction in place in relation to houses in multiple occupation. The Highworth Neighbourhood Plan 2015 to 2026, made on 13 July 2017, sits alongside the borough plan.
Does Flood Risk Need to Feature in Insurance for a Highworth Block?
The published data gives no basis for it. None of 196 Environment Agency warning and alert areas contains any part of the built-up area; the nearest, on the Thames and the Cole, stop about 435 and 846 metres away. The town sits on a Corallian ridge above the Upper Thames valley, and the nearest groundwater area is about 16 kilometres off.
Nearby Areas
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