Re-Roofing in a Conservation Area

Planning law draws its line at appearance. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 leaves out of development any works that leave a building's outward appearance materially as it was. Replacing worn concrete tiles with the same concrete tiles, in the same colour and profile, fits that description. Changing the covering from clay to slate or to metal, or switching to a tile of a very different profile, plainly changes the look of the roof.

In a conservation area that change is the sensitive one. The area is designated because the street or village has a character the council wants to keep, and roofs make up much of the view from the road. A material change on a front slope may need permission where an identical swap does not, and the council decides what counts as material, not the roofer or the supplier.

Practical steps: photograph the roof before the survey, note the tile type and colour, and ask your roofer to match them or to name the nearest match. If the covering is not available any more, reclaimed tiles can be the answer. Our guide to reusing roof tiles explains the options, and the roof replacement page covers the job itself.

GOV.UK explains that an Article 4 direction allows central government or the council, as local planning authority, to withdraw chosen permitted development rights across a defined area. In a conservation area, councils sometimes use one to bring back planning control over changes to the front of a house, such as roof coverings, windows or chimneys. Whether one covers your street, and what it takes in, is for the council to say.

We do not hold a list of local directions, and it would be wrong to guess. Put the question to the council's planning team and get the reply by email or letter: whether an Article 4 direction applies to your address, what it removes, and whether a like-for-like re-roof needs an application. The same planners can confirm whether your house is listed, which is a separate permission with its own rules.

The answer can differ between two houses on one road, because a direction may cover only the front elevation or only some types of building. Never rely on a neighbour's experience or a roofer's memory of a job elsewhere. It is a two-minute question for the council and a very expensive one to get wrong, because the council can ask for work to be put back.

A conservation area counts as article 2(3) land, which is land the permitted development rules treat with extra care. Class B, which allows dormers and roof extensions within volume limits, does not apply there, because B.1(f) rules it out on article 2(3) land. A dormer in a conservation area therefore needs planning permission.

Roof windows are less restricted. Class C carries no article 2(3) exclusion, so they stay permitted development within its limits unless an Article 4 direction or a planning condition takes the right away. The limits: it must not stand proud of the slope's plane by more than 0.15 metres, must not stand taller than the original roof's highest part, and, on a side slope, must be obscure-glazed. A direction or condition can remove all of that, so check.

Chimneys are a quiet source of trouble. Class C does not allow the installation, alteration or replacement of chimneys or flues under its own terms, so work on a stack is checked separately. Taking down a chimney breast is building work covered by the Building Regulations, as Planning Portal says. Our chimney repairs page covers stacks and flashings in more detail.

Crawley Borough Council lists 13 conservation areas, including new-town neighbourhood centres. Crawley Borough Council publishes maps for them, and its pages for Ifield Village and for Forestfield and Shrublands are two examples. If your house is near one, check the boundary on the council's map, because a street can sit just in or just out. Other places we work in, such as Horsham, Mid Sussex or Surrey districts, have their own areas, and each council deals with them.

Inside the South Downs National Park, planning is handled by the National Park Authority directly for areas such as Horsham and Mid Sussex, and building control stays with the district council. Outside it, the local council decides. The planning authority for each town is on our area pages.

For a first conversation, an address, a picture of the front elevation and a note of the current covering are enough. A survey follows, then photos of your own roof and one written total. The planning question stays with you and the council, but we will say what we see on the roof that bears on it, and what we would like the planning team to be shown before we order materials.