Roofers in Beenham
A hilltop village between Reading and Newbury, with a Grade II* church
Beenham has 1,227 residents and a Grade II* church. Every roof gets a survey first, with photographs of what lies underneath and a repair that suits it.
Beenham roofs, from church tower to farm gable
Church of St Mary
Listed Grade II* since 14 April 1967, with two Grade II farmhouses close by.
Listed farmhouses
Awbury's Farmhouse and Butler's Farmhouse are both Grade II, among 8 listed buildings within 500 metres.
Hilltop homes in the Downs
Houses on land over 300 ft above the Kennet, inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape.
Beenham between Woolhampton and Bradfield
Woolhampton lies to the south-west, Aldermaston to the south, Bradfield to the north and Bucklebury to the north-west. Theale lies a little further away to the north-east.
- Distance
- 24.6 road miles north-east of Andover
- Planning
- West Berkshire Council
- Council
- West Berkshire Council (unitary)
The Beenham roof report
Local editionBeenham, BerkshireA hilltop village and its paperwork
Beenham on the hill: how roof work is cleared in a village inside the North Wessex Downs
Beenham sits 24.6 road miles north-east of Andover, inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape and under West Berkshire Council. This report covers its listed church and farmhouses, the conservation areas nearby and the rules for scaffold.
A hilltop village and the paperwork that goes with it
Beenham stands on land over 300 ft high and falls away to the Kennet and Avon Canal on its southern boundary, according to the Victoria County History of 1923. For planning, highways and building control, though, height counts for less than boundaries. This is West Berkshire, and the 2021 Census counted 1,227 usual residents in the parish. Every roof job begins by finding the right authority, and for Beenham that is West Berkshire Council each time.
West Berkshire's building control is Building Control Solutions (BCS), a joint service run with Wokingham Borough Council, on 0300 790 0580. A registered building control approver can be used instead. We raise the question early because approval, where it applies, has to be in place before the old covering comes off, and the survey is the only moment at which we can say with confidence whether it applies. Guessing at that stage is how a job stalls halfway up the roof.
The Planning Portal gives two limits for a re-roof: under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. Stay inside both and an application is not normally required. Cross either and approval comes into play. So does a new covering that is at least 15 per cent heavier than the old, or that would behave very differently if a fire reached it. The Planning Portal's advice on a heavier covering is to have a structural engineer or surveyor check the timbers before the work starts, and we build that check into the programme.
On a hilltop house the survey starts at the ridge and works downwards. Ridge and hips come first, then verges, valleys and flashings, then the slope itself, then the gutters and fascias. Under a lifted tile, where it is safe to lift one, we photograph the battens and underlay. The order is the same on every roof, so what we found on yours can be read against any other, and the photographs run in that same order in the report you receive. If something unexpected shows, such as rotten battens or a split rafter foot, it is photographed and explained there too.
If the conclusion is that a patch repair will hold, we recommend it and price that, not a re-roof. Where the covering has given up across a whole slope, we say that instead and set the approval route beside it. The next step is then a decision you take with the photographs in front of you, and nobody hurries you into it.
St Mary's, two farmhouses and the old stocks
Beenham's landmark is the Church of St Mary, listed Grade II* on 14 April 1967 (list entry 1303517). Close by are Awbury's Farmhouse (1117295) and Butler's Farmhouse (1117299), both Grade II. Historic England's list holds 8 listed buildings within 500 metres of the village point, and each is named on the list, which any Beenham owner can search.
A church roof has its own consent route, and it depends on who owns and uses the building. Where a Church of England parish church is still used for worship, repairs go through the faculty system and not through the council. St Mary's is the Anglican parish church for Beenham, listed on A Church Near You with Sunday services, so its roof follows that faculty route. A church that has closed, or that belongs to the Churches Conservation Trust, comes back under listed building consent. For any other church we do not assume the route, and the owner is asked before anyone plans work. A listed farmhouse is simpler to describe. It keeps the permitted development rights any house has, yet it also needs listed building consent whenever the work alters its character. For a roof that means repair in matching materials is where the conversation starts, with the council's planning team brought in early. Awbury's and Butler's are the kind of houses where a tile that is close in colour but wrong in size is noticed from the lane, so the survey records both.
The 1923 account in the Victoria County History adds two small details. Beenham Stocks, north-east of the church, took its name from the village stocks, whose remains still existed shortly before then, and Aldermaston station on the Great Western railway lay in the south-east of the parish near the canal. They are observations about the place a century ago, not about your roof, but they explain why the village is spread out as it is.
The nearest conservation areas, within about 2.5 km of Beenham, are Aldermaston Wharf, Stanford Dingley and Woolhampton. Their edges sit away from the village centre, and whether any designation touches your Beenham street is for West Berkshire Council's own map to settle, which we check. Inside a conservation area a dormer is a planning question, and our guide to planning permission for roof work sets out the edges. Chimneys on older houses are a regular reason to look closely, and chimney repairs explains what we check on a stack.
“The hill gives Beenham its view; West Berkshire Council gives it its roof rules.”
Scaffold on the hill, and the National Landscape around it
West Berkshire Council licenses scaffold on its roads under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and its page leaves no doubt about who asks: it expects the request from the firm supplying the scaffold, not from the householder. West Berkshire Council charges £125, plus £71 per week, wants no less than ten working days between request and erection, and requires insurance that indemnifies it to a limit of £10 million. We read those terms against your job before we book anything, because a licence is only worth having for dates on which the crew can actually work.
Where the scaffold can stand on your own land, the licence question falls away. West Berkshire says you don't need a licence to place scaffolding on private roads, and a drive is the simplest case. Where it must stand on the verge or the carriageway, the licence is needed, and the programme is built around the council's notice period so that neither tiles nor labour are booked for a day the scaffold cannot be there. The licence cost sits inside your single quoted total, as do the scaffold hire and the waste taken away.
All of Beenham lies inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB. The partnership's planning page explains that such a designation gives it advice to offer, while the decision belongs to the council as local planning authority, with Natural England as a statutory consultee. West Berkshire Council therefore remains the body that decides, and its planning team is the office we ask when a Beenham address raises a question. The practical effect is on changes of shape, such as a dormer, which the council's planning team considers. Mending a roof, or re-covering it in matching tiles, goes the usual way.
West Berkshire also offers only limited help if dates slip. Its page says that where an application contains an error, or is withdrawn before the licence is granted, it can generally only offer a 50 per cent refund, and none once the licence is granted. We therefore confirm the insurance certificate, the start date and the access with the scaffolder before the application goes in, and tell you in writing when each of those is settled.
The jobs we expect to price in the village are the usual ones. A leak under a ridge or around a stack is a job for roof repairs, and a slope whose covering has simply worn out is a question for roof replacement. Either way we begin with a survey, photographs of the roof beneath the surface, and an account of what failed, ahead of any price.
Ways we look after Beenham roofs
Beenham roof questions, from church to canal
Does the Grade II* church affect work on my own Beenham roof?
Listing applies to the listed building itself, so a neighbour's house is not bound by it. If your house is listed too, or the scaffold needs access across a shared boundary, we raise it at the survey and check with West Berkshire Council's planning team before work is booked. You then have the council's answer in writing, kept with the survey photographs.
Do the Woolhampton, Stanford Dingley or Aldermaston Wharf conservation areas cover Beenham roofs?
Those three lie within about 2.5 km of the village rather than around its centre, so check your street on the council's map. A designation applies only to properties inside its boundary, and West Berkshire Council's map is the one that counts. West Berkshire Council's own map is checked for your address ahead of the survey report, which records the result.
How long should I allow for a scaffold licence in Beenham?
At least ten working days, because West Berkshire Council asks for no less than that between application and erection. West Berkshire Council charges £125 plus £71 per week and wants the application from a scaffolding provider, not from you. We fix your start date first, so the notice period runs against the right week, and the cost sits in your total.
Do I have to use Building Control Solutions for a Beenham re-roof?
No. A registered building control approver is a private alternative to the council's service, which in West Berkshire is delivered by Building Control Solutions with Wokingham Borough Council. Many small repairs need neither. When approval does apply, we tell you which routes are open at the survey and put the answer on the written report, so the choice stays with you.
Close to Beenham on the hill
Let us survey your Beenham roof
Give the address and one photo. We survey, name the approval route and set one written price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.