Roofs in an eastern High Weald village with a listed war memorial.
Ashurst Wood is a village of 1,503 people inside the High Weald National Landscape. A survey comes first, you see photos of your own roof, then one written price follows.
The village lies within the High Weald National Landscape, formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A repair that restores what was there is unaffected. Changing a roof's shape is a different conversation, and it starts with Mid Sussex planning.
Tiled cottage roof among trees
Camden Cottage is listed Grade II, as is the village war memorial. On a listed cottage we repair like for like and ask the council before anything alters how the roof looks.
Old cottage with clay tile roof
The High Weald partnership describes sandstone, brick and tile in wide use across its buildings. On your own roof, we match the tile profile and colour already there instead of reaching for a catalogue default.
Brick wall and tiled roof edge
Map of Ashurst Wood and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Ashurst Wood is a West Sussex village in Mid Sussex District, inside the High Weald National Landscape.
Ashurst Wood, stage by stage
Three short chapters on what the National Landscape means for a repair, how listed cottages are treated, and which councils sit behind a bigger job.
Stage 01 · Background
A designation covers 1,461 square kilometres, but your roof is one house, so we survey it on its own merits.
Ashurst Wood sits inside the High Weald National Landscape, which was an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty before its name changed. The High Weald covers 1,461 square kilometres across Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and the partnership that looks after it describes timber-framed and weatherboarded buildings alongside wide use of sandstone, brick and tile, a reflection of the sandstone and clay under the ground. That describes the High Weald as a whole. What covers a given Ashurst Wood roof, we find out on the day.
Like-for-like work is left alone by the designation. It begins to matter when you want to change a roof's shape or add to it. Land in a National Landscape counts as article 2(3) land, and that trims some of the permitted development rights that apply to roofs elsewhere. Rather than guess which rights are affected, ask Mid Sussex District Council's planning team before any drawings are made, and send them our survey photos so the conversation starts from facts.
What we look at first
Two tiles can look alike from the road and still differ in weight, size and the pitch they need. Marley publishes a minimum pitch for each tile in its range, from 12.5 degrees for one concrete tile to 40 degrees for one clay tile, so before we promise a match we check the manufacturer's data for the tile you have. We also note the colour, the profile and the way the tile hangs on the batten. Get that right and nobody walking down the lane can pick out the mended part.
Matching is only part of the picture. Our pitched roofing page sets out our repairs to broken and displaced tiles, and our dry ridge and dry verge page covers the fixings along the edges.
Not on age alone. Marley gives around 60 years for concrete tiles and says that is no guarantee, and the Building Research Establishment gives clay tile a minimum of 60 years. Sheet lead flashing is quoted at over 80 years in one cost guide. Those are typical ranges, and on an older roof it is often the nails, the bedding mortar and the gutters that tire first. A roof with sound battens can usually be repaired. Where the timber under the tiles has rotted, we show you the photos and explain what a renewal would involve before you decide anything.
Whatever the survey shows, the photos go to you, and the written price follows.
Stage 02 · Consents
Two listed structures in the village are a reminder that a roof job can need the council's say before the first tile moves.
Ashurst Wood War Memorial was listed at Grade II on 25 January 2018, and Camden Cottage is also Grade II. Neither is a reason to avoid a roof repair nearby, but both show that the village has protected buildings, and on those the council has a say that an ordinary house does not give it.
Under section 7 of the 1990 Act on listed buildings and conservation areas, authorisation is required before work alters a listed building so as to touch its special interest. Whether a given repair does so is a judgement for the council, here Mid Sussex District Council, and we would not make that call for you. Our approach is to survey, take photos, describe the work in plain words, and let you take that to the planning team before a price is accepted. Our guide to lead roof repairs on a listed building shows how that works for flashings and valleys.
Terms on a listed cottage roof
A listed-roof survey from us produces a set of photos covering each slope, every junction between roof and wall or chimney, and the full gutter line, with a short note on each. That set is what you take to the planning team, and it is also what lets a later owner see what was done. We keep the work to the materials already there, and where a part has failed, we show you the old part and the proposed replacement side by side before anything is ordered.
Where a cottage has a chimney, the stack is often where a roof leaks first, through cracked flaunching, open joints or a lifted flashing. Our chimney repairs page explains how we deal with each.
Ask before you strip anything from a listed roof, and keep every photo.
Being a neighbour does not make a house listed, so an ordinary repair on your own roof is your own business. If you plan a bigger change, such as raising the ridge or altering the shape, the setting of a nearby listed building can be a factor in the planning decision, which is another reason to speak to the planning team early.
Very little on an unlisted house. A straightforward re-tile rarely meets a planning hurdle, though the Mid Sussex planning team is the one to say whether your road sits within a conservation area. The National Landscape and any listing are separate matters, and each is worth a phone call to the council if you are unsure.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Mid Sussex handles planning and its own building control, while West Sussex County Council licenses scaffold on the highway.
A plain Ashurst Wood repair in matching tiles seldom reaches a council desk. Paperwork becomes likely when a slope is stripped and renewed, when the new covering differs from the old, or when scaffold must stand on a pavement or verge.
Planning belongs to Mid Sussex District Council, which also operates its own building control service. By the Planning Portal's test, a re-roof does not normally need approval where under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched. A replacement covering heavier than the old by 15 per cent or more does need approval, and the Planning Portal suggests taking advice from a structural engineer or a surveyor beforehand. That is why we compare the old and new coverings before pricing a re-roof, and why the written price reflects what the survey found.
The same survey tells us the pitch, the batten condition and the tile in place. Because manufacturers publish a minimum pitch for each tile, a swap from one tile to another is only possible if the slope allows it. We would rather tell you that at the survey than discover it halfway through the strip.
Before a bigger job starts
On the public highway, yes. West Sussex County Council issues scaffold licences. The charge is £266 for one month, and the council wants at least 10 working days between application and erection. Its page leaves open who applies, which we settle with the scaffolder before setting a start date around the licence. If the poles fit on your own drive or garden, no highway licence is involved. For scale, Checkatrade's October 2026 roof replacement guide puts scaffolding for a new roof at £700 to £1,300, so a quote should say clearly whether scaffolding is included.
GOV.UK describes bats as fully protected, along with their breeding sites and resting places, and a roof repair is one of the jobs it flags as a possible disturbance. Under the Habitats Regulations it is an offence to damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place of a protected animal. If the loft shows droppings or staining, work stops, we describe what we found and the plan is agreed with you before anything else happens.
Your first step is a photo of whichever roof edge, ridge or chimney is nagging at you, sent with your Ashurst Wood postcode.
Hardly at all for like-for-like work. The National Landscape matters when you want a different roof shape or a bigger alteration, because some permitted development rights are narrower on that land. Ask Mid Sussex District Council's planning team before drawing anything up. We photograph the roof first, so your question to them is specific and quick to answer.
That is for the council to say. Where re-tiling would affect a listed building's character, listed building consent comes first, and Camden Cottage in the village is Grade II. Describe the job to Mid Sussex District Council's planning team with our survey photos before you accept a price. A like-for-like repair is the likeliest to be straightforward.
West Sussex County Council charges £266 for one month of scaffolding on the highway, with at least 10 working days between application and erection. The licence is separate from the scaffold hire itself, so check whether any quote includes both. Scaffold on private land needs no highway licence, which often settles where the poles go.
Mid Sussex District Council operates its own building control service. Approval turns on how much of the roof is renewed and on any added weight from a different covering. Ask the service before you commit to any work, and we will flag the question at the survey if your slope looks likely to need it, so there are no surprises.
Photograph the edge, ridge or chimney that bothers you and send it with your Ashurst Wood postcode for a survey date.
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