Block Management in Taunton
Block, estate and leasehold management for Taunton. Compliance is tracked against Somerset Council. Roughly 74 miles from our office.
Managing a Block in Taunton 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
- Approx. 74 miles by road, an hour and a half or so
- Setting
- Inland
Who You Deal with in Taunton
A block in Taunton deals with Somerset Council, a unitary authority, so building control, planning and housing enforcement sit with one body. Fire safety in the common parts is enforced by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Communal water and sewerage is Wessex Water.
The Residential Stock in Taunton
Across the six wards covering the town, 5,108 of 29,156 households were in a purpose-built block at the 2021 Census, 17.5 per cent, with a further 2.9 per cent in a converted or shared house. All flat categories together reach 22.2 per cent, which matches England exactly and is nearly double the 12.7 per cent for Somerset as a whole. Taunton East holds the largest concentration of purpose-built flats.
Flood Risk in Taunton
Fluvial, not tidal, and concentrated on one river. Three Environment Agency flood warning areas are named for Taunton, all on the River Tone: riverside properties from Silk Mills Bridge to Bathpool, low-lying properties set back from the river along Clarence Street and Staplegrove Road, and other set-back properties from Roughmoor Crescent through to Firepool. Somerset Council puts 1,031 Taunton properties currently at risk, rising to 2,548 by 2118 with climate change, describes the 1960s and 1970s river walls as now deteriorating, and estimates the replacement scheme at upwards of 50 million pounds.
For a block that reaches leaseholders through the insurance premium and excess, and through the management pack when someone sells.
Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings in Taunton
Eleven conservation areas carry the Taunton name, seven of them designated on a single day in January 1975. The eleventh, Haines Hill and Trull Road, was designated in March 2023 and is the only conservation area in the whole former district designated this century.
375 entries on the National Heritage List fall inside the built-up area, 6 of them Grade I and 31 Grade II*, the highest total of the Somerset towns covered here. That figure is computed by intersecting Historic England's open data with the statistical boundary rather than quoted from the council, which publishes no total.
Consent has to precede the Section 20 specification, not follow it, or leaseholders are consulted on work that cannot lawfully be done as described.
Radon in Taunton
Lowest band, and unusually clear-cut. 28 of 29 sampled kilometre squares within about three kilometres of the town centre return the lowest radon class, where fewer than one per cent of homes reach the action level and measurement is not advised. The published caveat still applies to basements, cellars and underground spaces regardless of location, which in a block means the plant room and the undercroft rather than the flats.
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.
Licensing and Permitted Development in Taunton
One Article 4 direction in Taunton, at Staplegrove Road, confirmed in 1977. There is no direction removing permitted development rights for houses in multiple occupation here; the county's only HMO direction is in Yeovil. Licensing is mandatory only.
Two permissions get confused here. The council's requirements are public law and apply whatever the lease says; consent under the lease is private law and applies whatever the council says. A leaseholder letting a flat usually needs both.
Planning Policy That Affects Flats in Taunton
No Somerset-wide local plan is adopted yet, so Taunton is still decided on the Taunton Deane Core Strategy for 2011 to 2028, the site allocations plan, the town centre area action plan and design code from 2008, and three saved policies from a 2004 local plan. Taunton is also a designated garden town, given 375,000 pounds and a 13,000 home figure in 2017, with a vision document and a design charter adopted in 2019.
Policy in an adopted plan is not guidance. It is what the application is decided against, and a consent granted under the lease does not substitute for it or vice versa.
Empty Flats and Second Homes in Taunton
Somerset Council's premiums are set for the whole county, so a Taunton flat is charged on the same basis as one in Yeovil or Bridgwater. What is specific to Taunton is the parking consequence of conversion: the council's permit rules mean a house converted into several flats keeps its original permit allocation, handed out first come first served, and new-build or commercial conversions inside an existing permit zone get no resident permits at all.
We do not collect council tax and it is separate from the service charge. It is on this page because a flat left empty through a sale or an estate can attract double the standard bill here, and the leaseholder is usually the last person to find that out.
Changing Managing Agent in Taunton
Two questions stall most boards: who has authority to decide, and what happens to the money. The articles answer the first, the management agreement's notice clause the second. On Taunton heritage stock the consents history is what most often turns out to be incomplete, and its absence resurfaces later as a planning problem.
See the handover sequence in full, and our fees, which are a fixed annual amount with no commission on contractor work.
What Else Changes About Managing a Block in Taunton
- Taunton's mains water is soft, at 49.7 milligrams per litre, which is counter-intuitive for Somerset and more than three times softer than Yeovil's. Communal boilers and calorifiers here do not carry a hard water scale burden.
Going Deeper in Taunton
Towns and Villages We Cover from Taunton
Wellington, Bishops Lydeard, Norton Fitzwarren, Creech St Michael, North Petherton, Wiveliscombe.
Service charge or accounts query? Email accounts@plymouthblockmanagement.com and quote your development and flat number, or .
Taunton Questions
Which Council Does a Block in Taunton Deal With?
Somerset Building Control, the council's own service covering the four former district areas. One body, so building control, planning and licensing sit together.
Who Enforces Fire Safety in the Common Parts in Taunton?
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, as the enforcing authority for the Fire Safety Order.
Who Supplies Water to a Development in Taunton?
Wessex Water. A communal supply is the building's contract, not a leaseholder's, so report a loss to common parts through us.
Is Taunton Too Far from Your Plymouth Office?
It is about 74 miles, an hour and a half or so. Distance changes how site visits are scheduled, not whether they happen.
Do We Need Consent for External Works in Taunton?
On a listed building or in a conservation area, yes, for much that would be permitted elsewhere. Get it before the Section 20 specification, not after.
Nearby Areas
Talk to Us About Your Building in Taunton.
A free, no-obligation proposal, written so it can be circulated to a board.