Roofers in Great Shefford
From Gower Cottage and the Swan Inn out to the downs
Great Shefford has 13 listed buildings within 500 metres of its centre. A survey and photographs come before any advice, so the repair suits the roof you have.
Great Shefford roofs, from cottage row to downland edge
Listed cottages and the inn
Gower Cottage and The Swan Inn are Grade II, first listed in 1951, and Ivy House is also listed.
Conservation-area lanes
Houses beside the Great Shefford conservation area, where a roof's appearance is a matter for West Berkshire Council first.
Homes inside the National Landscape
Houses in a village that lies within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB.
Great Shefford between Lambourn and Hungerford
Lambourn is the nearest to the north-west, then Hungerford south-west and Kintbury south, with Chieveley out to the east. Roofs in each get the same survey.
- Distance
- 24.4 road miles north of Andover
- Planning
- West Berkshire Council
The Great Shefford roof report
Local editionGreat Shefford, BerkshireCouncils, listings and the downs
A village inside the North Wessex Downs: how Great Shefford roof work is cleared
Great Shefford sits 24.4 road miles north of Andover and answers to West Berkshire Council, not Test Valley. The pages below set out who signs off roofs in the village, how its listed cottages alter the routine, and what a village-road scaffold involves.
One council for planning, road and building control
Great Shefford is a Berkshire village, and that settles the paperwork before anyone puts up a ladder. For planning, for the road and for the inspection service behind building control, the council is West Berkshire. No district council sits in between and no county council sits above, so the chain is shorter than the Hampshire one we work with around Andover. The 2021 Census counted 949 usual residents in the parish.
Building control for West Berkshire addresses is run by Building Control Solutions (BCS), a collaboration between West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council; its number is 0300 790 0580. If you prefer, a registered building control approver can do the same job privately. We pin down the approval route before any access equipment is booked, and you receive the answer in writing along with the survey photographs. That way nobody finds out halfway through the week that a form was missing.
Where approval does apply, it is applied for before work begins. We keep the paperwork on the job file and hand you a copy, which is worth holding on to if you sell the house later and a buyer asks about the roof.
The re-roofing test that applies is the Planning Portal's. It looks at two measures together: the share of the building envelope that the work affects, which has to stay under 25 per cent, and the share of the roof, which has to stay under 50 per cent. Inside both limits a re-roof does not normally need a building control application. A few slipped tiles are nowhere near either limit. A whole slope is a different conversation, and the survey tells us which one we are having.
Weight is the other trigger. Planning Portal guidance brings in Building Regulations approval where a new covering adds 15 per cent or more in weight, or would act very differently if fire reached it. It also advises having a structural engineer or surveyor look first. Swapping light slate for concrete tile is the classic case, and the question it raises belongs to Building Regulations rather than to planning. The rafters, not the planners, decide whether a heavier roof is safe.
Because Andover and Great Shefford sit under different councils, we do not reuse the route from the last job. At the survey we check the slope, photograph the battens and underlay beneath a lifted tile where that is safe, and tell you which of these tests your job meets.
Gower Cottage, the Swan Inn and the conservation area
The village centre has a longer record than its 949 residents might suggest. Historic England's list holds 13 listed buildings within 500 metres of the village point. Gower Cottage and The Swan Inn are both Grade II, first listed on 10 September 1951 (list entries 1136007 and 1136024), and Ivy House is Grade II too. Among so many listed buildings, scaffold may need to rest near a shared wall or a listed roof edge, so what stands beside a roof is noted before access is planned.
The Great Shefford conservation area lies within about 0.75 km of the village centre, and West Berkshire Council draws its boundary. A dormer, or another change to a roof's outline, can need planning permission there; West Berkshire decides. Our guide to planning permission for roof work explains the edges of that. Article 4 directions can withdraw rights on particular streets, and only West Berkshire Council can say whether one touches yours, so we ask its planning team instead of assuming. Their reply goes on the job file with your photographs, and we pass a copy to you.
Listing adds a second layer. A listed house keeps its ordinary permitted development rights, yet any work that alters its character also needs listed building consent from West Berkshire Council. For a roof, the sensible start is repair in matching materials. If consent is required, the application goes in first and the scaffolding is held back. Close photographs go to the officer, with a few written lines on the covering as it is and the work proposed. The officer then has a clear picture of the existing roof and of every change we propose.
A survey in the old part of the village takes longer. We photograph the ridge, verges, hips and chimney close up, describe each tile or slate by size and colour, note how it is fixed and record the flashings. With that record we can look for reclaimed material of the right size and tone, rather than a new tile that stands out. If the council asks a question later, the record is there to answer it. Chimney stacks and flashings get the same attention, and chimney repairs covers what we do to them.
If your roof shares a wall with a neighbour, some work can fall under the Party Wall etc. Act. Those questions go to a party wall surveyor, not to us and not to building control. We flag it at the survey if we think your house is one of them, long before any notice would be due.
“In Great Shefford, a roof question goes to West Berkshire and its building control partnership, not to Andover.”
A scaffold on the village road, and the downs beyond
A house that fronts a village road puts its scaffold on the public highway, and section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence for that. For Great Shefford the licensing body is West Berkshire Council. Its page is blunt about who puts in the request: "submitted by a scaffolding provider, not the resident of the associated property." The paperwork therefore never lands on your doormat. Neither does the wait for a decision, because we build it into the programme.
West Berkshire Council's page states "A fee of £125, plus £71 per week, is payable for this licence", and it asks for ten working days' notice at the least. Its insurance condition is a limit of £10 million. The council adds that nobody needs a licence to put scaffolding on a private road. We coordinate the licence through the scaffolder, which keeps its cost within your one total.
Great Shefford lies within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB. The designation changes less than people expect. The partnership for the downs gives advice and takes no decision; West Berkshire Council still rules on planning, with Natural England consulted by law. For a dormer or any alteration to the roof's outline, the extra protection matters. A simple repair, or a re-cover in tiles to match, follows the council's usual route, and the downs team receives nothing extra. We still ask the council when a house is listed or sits in the conservation area, because the answer there turns on the building and not on the landscape.
Timing matters most when consent is pending, because a licence booked for the wrong fortnight is a fee paid for nothing. If a decision on listed building consent has not arrived, we hold back the licence application, because scaffold that sits unused still costs money. You get a start date once the consent and the licence are both in hand. Weather can still move a day or two, and when it does we tell you what changed and what the new day is.
Typical calls in the village are routine ones: roof repairs after slipped tiles, pitched roofing on the older cottages, and the chimney stacks that go with them. Each job begins with a survey and photographs, so you can see the fault for yourself before you decide on the fix and the date.
The Great Shefford roof work we cover
Before you book a Great Shefford roof job
Does a repair to a roof in the Great Shefford conservation area need planning permission?
Putting back what was there is judged differently from changing a roof's shape or material. A dormer or a new roof shape is a planning question in a conservation area. Because the answer depends on the house, we put the question to West Berkshire Council's planning team and tell you what it says before you book anything.
Who handles the licence when scaffold goes up on a Great Shefford road?
The scaffolding company does. West Berkshire Council expects the request from a scaffolding firm, wants ten working days' notice at the least, and charges £125 plus £71 per week. Scaffolding on private land needs none. We coordinate the rest with the scaffolder, so the cost stays inside your one total.
Do I deal with the downs partnership or the council about my roof?
With the council. The North Wessex Downs partnership is advisory only, and decisions on planning applications in Great Shefford rest with West Berkshire Council. The designation matters for dormers and other changes to a roof's outline. A repair, or a re-cover in matching tiles, needs nothing extra filed with the partnership, and we check the rest with the council's planning team.
What happens if the new covering weighs more than the old one?
A covering that is 15 per cent or more heavier needs Building Regulations approval, and the Planning Portal advises a structural check first. In Great Shefford that approval goes through Building Control Solutions or a registered building control approver. We weigh the options at the survey, including a lighter covering where one suits the roof, and tell you before any price is agreed.
Ask us to look at your Great Shefford roof
Send the address and any photos. We will survey, explain the consent route and return one written price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.