Roofers in Inkpen
Roof work in a Berkshire downland village with two Grade II* landmarks
Inkpen lies in Berkshire, wholly inside the North Wessex Downs, with a Grade II* church and house at its heart. We survey every roof first and explain which rules apply.
Inkpen roofs under the downs
Inkpen House
A Grade II* house first listed on 10 September 1951, one of two Grade II* entries near the centre.
Church and Church Farm House
St Michael's, Grade II* and listed on 6 February 1952, with Church Farm House, Grade II, among the other entries.
West Court House and neighbours
A Grade II house within a village that has a conservation area and 10 listings near its centre.
Inkpen above Kintbury and Hungerford
Kintbury lies north-east of Inkpen and Hungerford north-west, with Great Bedwyn west, Woolton Hill east and Highclere south-east. Our roof work reaches each of these villages.
- Distance
- 13.7 road miles north of Andover
- Planning
- West Berkshire Council
The Inkpen roof report
Local editionInkpen, BerkshireA Berkshire village on Hampshire's doorstep
Inkpen roofs: Berkshire's rulebook, a shared building control service and two Grade II* landmarks
Inkpen is a Berkshire village of 838 people, 13.7 road miles north of Andover, wholly inside the North Wessex Downs. This report explains which council answers for a roof, who handles building control and how scaffold is licensed here.
Inkpen House, St Michael's and the village around them
Inkpen has 838 usual residents (2021 Census) and 10 listed buildings close to its centre, within about 500 metres. Two are Grade II*: Inkpen House (list entry 1290598, first listed 10 September 1951) and the Church of St Michael (1290597, first listed 6 February 1952). West Court House (1290565) and Church Farm House (1210237) are Grade II. Inkpen House was listed in September 1951 and the church five months later.
A roof on a house of that grade, with whatever slopes, ridges, valleys and stacks it has and any later repairs in other materials, is surveyed slowly, slope by slope, and the history written into the covering helps decide what can stay. Because the house is listed, West Berkshire Council has to grant listed building consent before its character is changed.
St Michael's is an Anglican church in use, which means roof works are cleared by a faculty, the Church of England's own system, rather than by listed building consent from the council. Next to the churchyard, a house is governed by the council's usual rules, with listing added where it applies.
Inkpen has a conservation area, which council-supplied boundary data on the national planning platform puts within about 0.75 km of the village centre. Anything that would change how a roof looks inside it should be put to West Berkshire Council before pricing. Matching repairs are the gentle opening move, and a bolder change goes through the council in writing.
Whether an Article 4 direction touches an Inkpen address is also for West Berkshire Council to say. The council publishes data on its directions, and one is attached to a street in Newbury, but what any direction covers is for the council to confirm. We ask in writing, and the reply joins the survey photographs in your file.
Our planning permission for roof work guide sets out the national picture for owners of listed and unlisted houses alike.
Sourcing matters in a village like this. Old slates or clay tiles of the right size, thickness and tone may take several weeks to find, so the hunt begins at survey and runs beside the consent paperwork, and a poor match is reported to you early.
The loft is part of every survey on a house of this age. Under the covering we look for daylight, damp staining and softened timber, and we check how the battens and underlay have aged. A roof that looks sound from the lane can be failing from within, and the loft is where that shows.
A shared building control service, and a downs designation
Planning for Inkpen is West Berkshire Council's job, and so is the highway. Berkshire's unitary councils do not have a county council above them. Building control, though, is not delivered by West Berkshire alone. It comes from Building Control Solutions, known as BCS, which describes itself as the local authority building control service in Berkshire, run through a partnership between West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council.
The number for BCS is 0300 790 0580. Private approval can instead come from a registered building control approver, whose role has been regulated from 6 April 2024. We decide which route fits before ordering any scaffold, and give you the result on paper. A neighbour across the Hampshire border would use a different service altogether.
Inkpen lies wholly inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB. The partnership that speaks for the downs only advises on planning. West Berkshire Council keeps the decision, with Natural England consulted where needed. For an owner that means no extra permission, though changes to a roof's shape meet stricter rules inside the designation.
The Planning Portal's national test for re-covering sets the cut-off at under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof; work inside it does not usually call for building control. We test each slope against both numbers, and a job near either limit is explained to you with the reasoning.
Where the new covering adds 15 per cent or more to the weight on the frame, Building Regulations approval follows, together with a structural check. Inkpen's older houses may have frames built for a lighter covering than the one proposed, so the rafters are examined before a heavier product is suggested.
Repairs sit below these thresholds. Our roof repairs page covers the slipped slates, cracked ridge pieces and lifted flashings behind many small repairs, and how each is surveyed and priced.
Where two bodies share a service, the contact is simpler than it sounds. One number reaches BCS, whose staff handle applications and inspections for homes in both West Berkshire and Wokingham, which is why BCS is the contact we cite when building control is the question.
Timing matters on a listed job. Consent, building control and scaffold each have a lead time of their own, and they rarely line up. We lay the dates side by side at the survey and name the slow step, so the work starts when everything is ready.
“Inkpen is in Berkshire, so its building control comes from BCS, not from a Hampshire council.”
West Berkshire's scaffold licence, as it stands
Scaffold that obstructs a public highway is licensed under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and in Inkpen the licensing body is West Berkshire Council. West Berkshire Council wants the scaffolding provider, not the resident, to submit the application, so the form never reaches you.
West Berkshire Council's licence costs £125 plus £71 a week, and the application should reach it at least 10 working days before the scaffold is due to go up. Those are the figures on the council's own page, and any fee sits inside your written price. The scaffolder's insurance has to indemnify West Berkshire Council to £10 million.
Private ground is simpler. The council's page leaves private roads outside the licence, and a paddock, a forecourt or a back garden offers the same freedom. Where a house stands back from the lane, scaffold can stand on the plot. Access is checked first, because it decides the programme and the cost.
The work is straightforward. Our slate roofing page covers older roofs on which slates have slipped as nails corroded, where swapping a handful beats re-covering a slope. Our chimney repairs page deals with failed pointing, lifted lead and leaning stacks; a rebuilt stack inside a conservation area is put to the council beforehand.
Pitched roofing and roof replacement complete the list. A slope whose battens are rotten or whose underlay has perished is a re-cover, and a patch only postpones the bill. The photographs show both the failing and the sound areas, so the choice rests on evidence.
The eaves line gets attention too. Gutters, fascias and soffits carry water away from the walls, and a failed bracket can undo a good repair. Any work there goes into the same price.
The survey finishes with one total in writing. Scaffold, licence, the roof work and carting waste away are all inside it, and the consent route is named next to it.
Deliveries to a village lane are planned. Where the tile delivery and the skip will stand is settled before a date is fixed, and the nearest houses are told when the scaffold arrives and leaves.
Valleys and the lead at abutments are checked closely, because a lifted edge or a split there lets rain in behind the covering, and mending it is the first choice where that will last.
Where a stack serves two houses, the findings go to both owners before anything is booked, and one scaffold can serve both. Nests in use are left undisturbed, and signs of bats are reported to you before work goes on near the ridge.
Work we carry out around Inkpen
Inkpen roofs: Berkshire, BCS and the downs
Can the roof of Inkpen House keep its old covering?
Inkpen House is listed Grade II*, so the character of its roof is protected by listed building consent from West Berkshire Council. Where the old covering can be saved, it is; where it cannot, reclaimed stock is sought in the same size and tone. Every slope is photographed first, and the council reads a written proposal before any work.
Does Hampshire's scaffold fee apply in Inkpen?
No. Inkpen is in West Berkshire, whose own page sets a licence at £125 plus £71 a week, with applications due 10 working days ahead. The scaffolding provider lodges the application, not the resident, and a scaffold on private ground is outside the licence. Whatever applies is folded into the one written price you receive.
Is the North Wessex Downs partnership a second permission for an Inkpen roof?
No. The partnership gives guidance on planning but has no say over the outcome. The decision belongs to West Berkshire Council, with Natural England consulted where needed. Repairs and matching re-coverings go ahead as elsewhere in West Berkshire, while changes to a roof's shape meet stricter rules inside the designation, so the council hears first and replies to you.
Which service signs off a re-roof in Inkpen?
Building Control Solutions, called BCS, which West Berkshire Council runs in partnership with Wokingham Borough Council, handles building regulations on 0300 790 0580. Alternatively a registered approver can act privately. A new covering weighing 15 per cent or more above the old brings approval and a structural check on either route, and we raise it at survey.
Arrange a survey of your Inkpen roof
Send the address and one clear picture. We survey, check the West Berkshire route and return a single written price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.