Roofers in Bishopstoke
From Spring Lane's listed houses to the streets beside Eastleigh
Bishopstoke has 10,284 residents and sits beside Eastleigh. We start every job with a survey and photographs, then explain in plain words what has failed and what would mend it.
Bishopstoke roofs, from Spring Lane to the old rectory
Listed houses on Spring Lane
117 and 119, Spring Lane are listed together as Grade II, first listed on 14 August 1953.
The Old Rectory
Grade II listed in the same month of 1953 (list entry 1203917), one of two listed buildings near the centre.
Streets by the conservation area
Houses near the Bishopstoke conservation area, which lies within about 0.75 km of the village centre.
Bishopstoke between Eastleigh and Fair Oak
Eastleigh lies to the west, Allbrook to the north-west, Fair Oak to the east and Colden Common to the north. Otterbourne is a little further north.
- Distance
- 24.9 road miles south of Andover
- Planning
- Eastleigh Borough Council
- Council
- Eastleigh Borough Council and Hampshire County Council
The Bishopstoke roof report
Local editionBishopstoke, HampshireThree bodies, two listings and the flood map
Bishopstoke beside Eastleigh: who clears a roof job in a village of 10,284 people
Bishopstoke is 24.9 road miles south of Andover, in Eastleigh borough, with a building control service shared with Southampton. This report covers the listed Spring Lane houses, the conservation area, the flood-zone map and the county scaffold licence.
Three bodies behind a Bishopstoke re-roof
Bishopstoke is a large village, with 10,284 usual residents at the 2021 Census, and a roof job here touches three separate bodies. Eastleigh Borough Council is the planning authority. Hampshire County Council is the highway authority, which matters the moment a scaffold touches the road. And building control sits with a service that is neither of those: Southampton and Eastleigh Building Control, which is Southampton City Council in partnership with Eastleigh Borough Council.
That partnership is worth a sentence of explanation, because it surprises people. It is not Eastleigh's own team. Southampton City Council runs the service with Eastleigh, and says it can also work outside the Southampton and Eastleigh boundaries. For a householder the practical meaning is simple: the building control question on a Bishopstoke roof is put to Southampton and Eastleigh Building Control, or to a registered building control approver if you prefer a private route. We find out which at the survey and tell you in writing, with the survey photographs attached.
What goes to building control depends on the work. The national test is the Planning Portal's, and it is the one we use for Bishopstoke. An application is not normally needed when the work stays under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. A few slipped tiles are far inside those limits. A whole slope may not be, and a new extension roof is a different matter again, so we look at the building and the plan together.
Two other things bring approval in whatever the percentages. One is a new covering that weighs 15 per cent or more above the old. The other is a covering that would perform very differently in a fire. A heavier covering calls for an earlier look by a structural engineer or surveyor, since rafters sized for light slate may not carry concrete tile, as the Planning Portal advises.
We photograph the covering, ridge, battens and underlay, measure the area affected and give you a plain account of whether the job is a repair, a section or a full re-cover.
Extended houses deserve a word. The roof over an extension may carry a different covering from the main roof, a different age and a different set of flashings, which are the metal strips sealing the gap wherever a slope butts against a wall. That joint is where we look first on a leak, because water that gets past it can run a long way down a rafter before it shows on a ceiling.
Spring Lane, the Old Rectory and the conservation area
Historic England's list shows 2 listed buildings within 500 metres of the Bishopstoke village point. One entry covers 117 and 119, Spring Lane, listed Grade II on 14 August 1953 (list entry 1111943). The other is the Old Rectory, listed Grade II in the same month (1203917). A short list is still a real constraint on the houses it names, and a nearby listed roof can affect where a scaffold may stand or how a shared gutter is dealt with. We look at the neighbours before we plan the access, and we raise anything that touches a boundary at the survey, before dates are fixed.
Listing changes the route, not the standard of the repair. A listed house keeps the permitted development rights that any house has, but work that changes its character also needs listed building consent from Eastleigh Borough Council. For a roof we begin by matching what is there and mending it, with close photographs and a short written account of the roof as it stands and the work proposed, so the planning team sees the change on paper before anything happens on the roof. If consent is needed, the application is made first, and the scaffold waits for the decision.
The Bishopstoke conservation area lies within about 0.75 km of the village centre, and its boundary is one Eastleigh Borough Council has supplied to the national planning data site. Inside a conservation area a change to the shape of a roof, such as a dormer, is a planning matter for Eastleigh Borough Council. Our guide to planning permission for roof work sets out where the lines fall. An Article 4 direction is a direction under the General Permitted Development Order that lets a council withdraw specified rights across a defined area. Whether one covers your road is for Eastleigh Borough Council to say, and we ask before we price.
Ask any roofer who is working on or beside a listed building for the consent route in writing before the price is agreed, and expect to see the council named in the answer. It is a fair request for any job beside a listed wall. A written route also protects you if ownership of the house changes hands later and the new owner asks what was done to the roof and why. None of this stops ordinary maintenance. A roof with a few cracked tiles, a lifted ridge or a failed flashing needs roof repairs, and the first step is the same on every street in the village: a survey, photographs of what is wrong and a plain explanation of the fix.
“In Bishopstoke the planning authority, the road and the inspector are three different bodies.”
Where the water goes, and the county scaffold licence
The national planning data site publishes the Environment Agency's flood risk zone layer, and it shows flood zone 3 within about 250 metres of the Bishopstoke village point. That is a statement about land, not about a particular house or street. What it does tell a roofer is to take rainwater goods seriously. On every Bishopstoke survey we look at gutters, hoppers, downpipes and outlets along with the covering, because water that leaves the roof badly ends up somewhere it should not. Our guttering, soffits and fascias page explains what we check.
Where a house fronts the road, a scaffold stands on the highway, and the highway authority licenses it under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980. For Bishopstoke that authority is Hampshire County Council, not Eastleigh. The county's scheme puts the application with the firm supplying the scaffold. Hampshire County Council asks for ten clear working days from application to start, charges £211.90 on application for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each additional 2-week period, and says it does not offer extensions. Private roads are outside the licence, as the county's own wording makes clear.
The consequences are practical. A licence is only useful for the weeks the crew will work, so dates are agreed with you before the county is asked for anything. If the job is a repair that one person can reach from a tower on your own drive, the licence question may not arise. If it is a re-roof with a full scaffold across the front, the licence is part of the programme and its cost is part of your total price, along with the hire and the waste taken away.
Timing needs a margin. Because the county does not extend a licence, a job that overruns means a fresh application and a fresh wait. We therefore ask for a licence period that allows for the days when rain stops a slope being opened, and we tell you when the scaffold is expected to go up and come down. Neighbours on a Bishopstoke street notice a scaffold quickly, and a short note to them from you or from us, about the dates, is usually welcome.
The survey photographs that settle the approval route also settle the scaffold: how far the work runs, whether the eaves need access, and whether a flat roof on a garage or extension should be done in the same visit. For those roofs our flat roofing page covers what we look at.
Fixes and replacements in Bishopstoke
Bishopstoke roof questions: Eastleigh, the lane and the water
Would a repair to 117 and 119 Spring Lane in Bishopstoke need listed building consent?
The entry is Grade II, so work that affects the character of those houses needs listed building consent from Eastleigh Borough Council as well as any other approval. A repair that keeps the existing materials and appearance is where we start. We photograph what is there and ask the planning team before any price is agreed.
Which council should I ask about an Article 4 direction in Bishopstoke?
Eastleigh Borough Council, as the planning authority. An Article 4 direction lets a council withdraw specified permitted development rights across a defined area. Whether one covers your road is its answer to give, so we ask its planning team before we price a job and pass the reply to you in writing, so the answer sits alongside the survey photographs.
How does Southampton and Eastleigh Building Control fit with a re-roof?
It is the local authority building control service delivered by Southampton City Council in partnership with Eastleigh Borough Council. A re-roof that falls outside the Planning Portal's limits, or that adds weight or changes fire performance, may need its approval. You can use a registered building control approver instead, and we settle which route applies at the survey.
Do I need a licence for scaffold on my own Bishopstoke drive?
No. Hampshire County Council's page says that placing scaffolding on private roads needs no licence. A scaffold on the public highway does need one, and Hampshire County Council charges £211.90 for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2 weeks. We plan dates with you first so that the licence covers the weeks that matter.
From Eastleigh to Fair Oak, close to Bishopstoke
Arrange a Bishopstoke roof survey
Message us the address with a photo. We survey, check the approval route and quote one written price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.