Block Management in Winchcombe
A Cotswold town governed by Tewkesbury Borough, where repainting can need planning permission.
In Winchcombe we offer RMCs, RTM companies and freeholders complete block management, from reserve planning and service charge accounts to lease consents. A 1987 Article 4 direction over about 16 per cent of the town removes the right to paint the exterior, and a quarter of the built-up area is conservation area. The town sits in Tewkesbury Borough, not Cotswold District, with building control shared with Cheltenham.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Winchcombe
Establish the Article 4 Boundary with the Council
Winchcombe's 1987 direction removes the right to paint the exterior across about 16 per cent of the town, and the published map has no street schedule. We would confirm with Tewkesbury Borough Council whether the block is covered before a redecoration cycle.
ConsentsPlan Radon Measurement by Kilometre Square
Four of the seven squares over Winchcombe are class 2 and two are class 4 at 5 to 10 per cent, while one is in the lowest band. We would check which applies and recommend communal area measurement where advised.
ComplianceState the Isbourne Position Accurately to Insurers
The south Worcestershire rivers alert covers 7.64 per cent of the town, with 2.46 per cent in Flood Zone 3. We would set that out when placing cover, without attaching the downstream Sedgeberrow and Hinton on the Green warning areas.
InsuranceManaging a Block in Winchcombe at a Glance
- Local authority
- Tewkesbury Borough Council
- Authority type
- District, under the county council
- Building control
- Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Building Control, shared with Cheltenham Borough Council
- County
- Gloucestershire
- Fire and rescue service
- Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Severn Trent Water
- Setting
- Inland
What It Costs to Move a Block in Winchcombe 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.
Repainting an Elevation Can Need an Application Here
An Article 4 direction dating from 8 October 1987 covers about 16 per cent of the built-up area. The rights it removes are recorded in the national register and decode to four classes: the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwellinghouse; any other alteration to a roof; the erection of a porch outside an external door; and the painting of the exterior of any building or work. That last one is the unusual and practically significant one for a block, because repainting an elevation is the kind of cyclical work that would otherwise never involve an application. The council's published document is a scanned map with no street schedule, so the boundary has to be established with the council rather than looked up.
Ward Data Understates the Town's Flat Share by a Third
The published Winchcombe ward figure is 235 flats among 3,062 households, 7.7 per cent, and it should not be used for the town without correction because this is the worst ward fit of the Gloucestershire towns covered here. Only 2,034 of the ward's households, 66.4 per cent, are inside the built-up area; the ward is roughly half as large again as the town and takes in a substantial rural hinterland. Narrowing to the town gives 2,034 households and 211 flats, 10.4 per cent, made up of 155 in purpose-built blocks, 22 in a converted or shared house, 16 in another converted building and 18 over commercial premises. The ward figure understates the town's flat share by about a third.
Isbourne Warning Areas Downstream Do Not Reach Winchcombe
Fluvial on the River Isbourne. The only Environment Agency designation containing the town is the alert for the rivers of south Worcestershire, which lists the Isbourne alongside the Badsey, Honeybourne, Bretforton and Littleton Brooks and covers 7.64 per cent of the built-up area. No flood warning area reaches Winchcombe, and there is a specific trap here worth naming: two Environment Agency warning areas are named for the River Isbourne, but both are downstream at Sedgeberrow and Hinton on the Green and neither touches this town. Attaching either to Winchcombe would be wrong. The flood map puts 5.94 per cent of the town in Flood Zone 2 and 2.46 per cent in Flood Zone 3, fluvial only, and no defence scheme is published.
A Quarter of the Town Is Conservation Area
One conservation area, designated 19 March 1971, and unlike the Stroud towns it does have a published conservation area appraisal, though the council gives no adoption date for it and the document itself is a scan without a text layer. The designation is large relative to the settlement, covering 24.96 per cent of the built-up area, the biggest share of the Gloucestershire towns covered here, so a quarter of Winchcombe sits inside it.
177 entries on the National Heritage List fall inside the built-up area, one Grade I, three Grade II* and 173 Grade II. No council published total exists, so the figure is computed from Historic England's open data against the town's statistical boundary.
Three Radon Classes Across One Small Town
Three different classes across one small town, which makes a single figure genuinely misleading here. Of the seven one-kilometre squares over the built-up area, four are class 2 covering about 86 per cent of the area, at 1 to 3 per cent of homes at or above the action level; two are class 4 at 5 to 10 per cent; and one is in the lowest band, where the published advice is that radon measurement is not advised. So the same town contains ground where the national advice is to measure and ground where it is not.
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.
Tewkesbury Borough, Not Cotswold District, Decides Applications
Two adopted plans apply here rather than one. The Joint Core Strategy for Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury was adopted in December 2017 and is under review, and the Tewkesbury Borough Plan 2011 to 2031 was adopted on 8 June 2022 at a special meeting of the council. A successor strategic and local plan is emerging but not adopted. The Winchcombe and Sudeley Neighbourhood Development Plan was made on 24 January 2017 after a referendum carried by 87.02 per cent of those voting on a turnout of 22.49 per cent; the raw vote counts are not published on the council's page. About 71 per cent of the built-up area lies inside the Cotswolds National Landscape, so most but not all of the town is within it. One authority point worth stating plainly, because it is the easiest mistake to make about this town: Winchcombe is in Tewkesbury Borough, not Cotswold District, despite sitting in the Cotswolds.
Service charge or accounts query? Email accounts@
Winchcombe Questions
Is Winchcombe in Cotswold District?
No. Winchcombe is in Tewkesbury Borough, despite sitting in the Cotswolds, and about 71 per cent of the built-up area lies inside the Cotswolds National Landscape. Building control is delivered by Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Building Control. Two adopted plans apply: the Joint Core Strategy of December 2017 and the Tewkesbury Borough Plan adopted on 8 June 2022.
Does the River Isbourne Flood Warning Cover Winchcombe?
No flood warning area reaches Winchcombe. Two Environment Agency warning areas are named for the River Isbourne, but both are downstream at Sedgeberrow and Hinton on the Green. The town sits only within the alert for the rivers of south Worcestershire, which covers 7.64 per cent of the built-up area, and the flood map puts 2.46 per cent in Flood Zone 3.
How Many Listed Buildings Are There in Winchcombe?
177 entries on the National Heritage List fall inside the built-up area: one Grade I, three Grade II* and 173 Grade II. No council total is published, so the figure is computed from Historic England's open data. The single conservation area, designated 19 March 1971, covers 24.96 per cent of the built-up area.
Nearby Areas
Talk to Us About Your Building in Winchcombe.
A free, no-obligation proposal, written so it can be circulated to a board.