Block Management in Mevagissey
Floods from the sea and the stream, and a harbour listed like its church
In Mevagissey we provide block, estate and leasehold management for RMCs, RTM companies and freeholders. The town floods from both the sea and the Mevagissey Stream, and since May 2021 it has had a direct warning service of its own. The harbour piers and quays are listed Grade II*, and every radon square over the town is class 6.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Mevagissey
Register for the Mevagissey Stream Service
The direct warning service introduced on 19 May 2021 names Valley Road, Chapel Street, Church Street, Fore Street and the harbour. We would confirm the block is registered and build both tidal and stream flooding into the insurance placement.
InsuranceMeasure Radon in Communal Areas
All five kilometre squares over Mevagissey are class 6, above 30 per cent of homes at or above the action level, with no lower class anywhere. We would arrange radon measurement in ground-floor communal areas.
ComplianceAssess Converted Buildings for Fire Safety
In the built-up area 28 households are in converted or shared houses, 28 in other converted buildings and 28 over commercial premises. For such a block we would commission a fire risk assessment and keep the record current.
Fire risk assessmentsCheck Heritage Status Before Quayside Works
The harbour piers and quays are listed Grade II*, so work to them is listed building work rather than ordinary marine maintenance, and no appraisal is published. We would obtain consent before specifying any works affecting listed fabric.
Major works and Section 20Managing a Block in Mevagissey at a Glance
- Local authority
- Cornwall Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Cornwall Council Building Control
- County
- Cornwall
- Fire and rescue service
- Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- South West Water
- From our Plymouth office
- About 30 miles in a straight line
- Setting
- Coastal
What It Costs to Move a Block in Mevagissey 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.
Sea and Stream Flooded the Town Two Months Apart
Mevagissey floods from both the sea and the stream. On 19 May 2021 the Environment Agency introduced a direct flood warning service for the Mevagissey Stream, with over 160 properties automatically registered. The Mevagissey Stream warning area covers 6.2 per cent of the built-up area and names the fire station, Valley Road, Chapel Street, Church Street, Fore Street and the harbour. Three further areas contain part of the town: the St Austell and Par Rivers alert at 6.7 per cent and two south Cornwall coast areas at 5.4 per cent each. Flood zone 3 covers 6.9 per cent of the built-up area. The council's own flood investigations give two dated events in 2012. On 17 and 18 October, a low pressure system brought a storm surge and gale force winds coinciding with spring tides. Firefighters attended the main square and five properties flooded, among them the Ship Inn and the Mevagissey News, with the source recorded as tides. On 22 December, the Mevagissey Stream broke out of bank at the culvert under Valley Road. 13 properties flooded around Chapel Square car park and Chapel Street, with water rising up through floors, and the sources were recorded as main river, ordinary watercourse and sewers. So the town flooded from the sea and from the stream in the same year, by different mechanisms, two months apart. In February 2014, overtopping along Middle Wharf and Olivers Quay flooded 20 properties, and in 2017 the quayside was again recorded as overtopped. After the October event, the council stated that a strategic approach is required for defending Mevagissey against coastal flooding, but no named, dated or costed coastal defence scheme has been published since. The current intervention is Climate Resilient Mevagissey, a natural flood management project rather than a hard defence. It was awarded 280,000 pounds of national funding in February 2024 and runs to March 2027. Mevagissey is a priority community in the council's strategy. For a block near the harbour or the stream, both tidal and stream flooding should be disclosed at insurance renewal, and the block registered for the warning service.
Conversions and Flats over Shops Need Fire Checks
At the 2021 Census the division covering the town held 2,454 households. Of these, 280 were flats in purpose-built blocks, 40 in a converted or shared house, 38 in another converted building and 37 over commercial premises. The census output areas inside the built-up area hold 880 households. Of these, 84 are in purpose-built blocks, 9.5 per cent, 28 in a converted or shared house, 28 in another converted building and 28 over commercial premises. Those three conversion categories together account for 9.5 per cent of households, against 4.4 per cent at Liskeard and 3.2 per cent at Porthleven. That is what a dense harbour core produces. Porthleven is a harbour town of almost identical built-up area, and the converted stock is the practical difference between managing a block there and here. Converted buildings and flats over shops need early checks on lease demises, shared services and fire separation.
The Line Is Held, with Undefended Cliffs Alongside
Open coast harbour. The shoreline management plan names a policy unit for the town itself. It holds the line in the long term, with managed realignment considered in the short and medium term. Undefended cliffs sit immediately either side, within tens of metres. The town is in the Cornwall National Landscape, south coast central section. Specifications for external metalwork, fixings and coatings here should assume a marine atmosphere.
Standards classify a high-salinity coastal atmosphere as C5-M, very high marine, in which unprotected steel loses more than 80 micrometres of thickness in its first year against as little as 1.3 inland. Balustrades, railings, fixings and walkway structures are what that costs a Mevagissey block, so we survey them on a shorter interval and fund the reserve fund from what the surveys find.
The Harbour Piers Carry the Same Grade as the Church
One area, designated on 28 February 1973 and extended on 1 January 1976. It covers 11.5 per cent of the built-up area, at about 16 hectares. The council's own record states that no conservation area appraisal is currently available for it, so there is no adopted character assessment to read before designing a scheme here. For a block inside the boundary, a consent application for external works has to make its own case on the area's character.
122 entries on the National Heritage List fall inside the built-up area. None is Grade I and four are Grade II*: the Church of St Peter, Lawn House, 27 Polkirt Hill, and the harbour piers and quays themselves, listed in March 1974. That last is the distinctive one, because the harbour structure carries the same grade as the church. Any work to the piers and quays is listed building work rather than ordinary marine maintenance.
Every Radon Square over Mevagissey Is Class 6
All five one-kilometre squares over the built-up area are class 6 of 6, the top band, covering 100 per cent of the town with no lower class present anywhere. The published wording is that maximum radon potential is greater than 30 per cent of homes at or above the action level. For a block, radon measurement in ground-floor flats and communal areas should be part of the compliance programme.
A Made Neighbourhood Plan Sits Alongside the Local Plan
Decided under the Cornwall Local Plan, with the Mevagissey Neighbourhood Development Plan made on 27 June 2018. The referendum figures are not published. Cornwall Council has published no Article 4 records to the national register, so whether a direction affects a particular building should be confirmed with the council. For a block, proposals for alterations or new flats are judged against both plans.
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Mevagissey Questions
What Flooding Has Mevagissey Had Recently?
On 17 and 18 October 2012 a storm surge on spring tides flooded five properties around the main square. On 22 December 2012 the Mevagissey Stream broke out at the Valley Road culvert and 13 properties flooded around Chapel Street. In February 2014 overtopping along Middle Wharf and Olivers Quay flooded 20 properties, and the quayside overtopped again in 2017.
Is a Flood Defence Being Built for Mevagissey?
The current intervention is Climate Resilient Mevagissey, a natural flood management project rather than a hard defence. It was awarded 280,000 pounds of national funding in February 2024 and runs to March 2027. After October 2012 the council said a strategic approach to coastal flooding was required, but no named, dated or costed coastal defence scheme has been published since.
Is the Mevagissey Frontage Defended in Shoreline Policy?
The shoreline management plan has a policy unit for the town itself, holding the line in the long term with managed realignment considered in the short and medium term. Undefended cliffs sit immediately either side, within tens of metres. The town also lies in the Cornwall National Landscape, south coast central section.
Nearby Areas
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