Roofers in Kintbury
A 1970 conservation area inside the North Wessex Downs
Kintbury's conservation area dates from 1970, and the village sits within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. Every roof receives a survey and photographs well before any figure.
Kintbury roofs, from the church to the inn
The 1970 designation
The Kintbury conservation area dates from 1970, and its boundary lies within about 0.75 km of the village centre.
Church of St Mary
Grade II* since 6 February 1962, with the Dundas Arms Inn and Kintbury Park listed Grade II close by.
Homes in the National Landscape
All of Kintbury sits inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB, so extra rules apply to some changes.
Kintbury between Hungerford and Highclere
Great Shefford lies to the north, Hungerford to the west, Inkpen to the south-west, Enborne and Speen to the east, and Highclere and Woolton Hill to the south-east.
- Distance
- 14.8 road miles north of Andover
- Planning
- West Berkshire Council
The Kintbury roof report
Local editionKintbury, BerkshireA West Berkshire village in the downs
Kintbury roofs: a Berkshire village in the downs with a shared building control service
Kintbury is 14.8 road miles north of Andover, just over the border in West Berkshire. The report asks who holds authority over a Kintbury roof, what a 1970 conservation area and a Grade II* church mean for a repair, and how scaffolding gets its licence.
West Berkshire rules here, with BCS behind it
Kintbury sits 14.8 road miles north of Andover, and the road leaves Hampshire on the way. The civil parish had 2,599 usual residents at the 2021 Census. West Berkshire Council is a unitary authority, so one council holds the planning decisions and the highway, which makes Test Valley and Hampshire County Council irrelevant to a roof here. Building control is the part that surprises people. It comes from Building Control Solutions, known as BCS, which West Berkshire Council runs jointly with Wokingham Borough Council.
BCS presents itself as Berkshire's local authority building control service, and its number is 0300 790 0580. A roof that needs building control sign-off goes to BCS, not to a district council office, and we find that out before pricing, because the answer can change the method and the timetable as well as the cost. A private route exists too, through a registered building control approver, under the regime that began in April 2024.
The Planning Portal supplies the national yardstick for a re-roof. It puts the line at 25 per cent of the whole building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof: stay below both and building control need not be asked. West Berkshire Council sets no percentage for roof coverings, so the national line stands. Re-covering part of one slope stays well inside it. Stripping a whole roof does not.
Weight is the second line. Anything that raises the covering's weight by 15 per cent or more triggers Building Regulations approval, and the Planning Portal says to take a structural opinion first. Concrete tiles going onto a frame built for slate or clay are the classic case. It is a Building Regulations question, not a planning one, so it goes to BCS and not to the planning team.
On the survey we lift what can safely be lifted, look at the battens and underlay, and photograph every fault. Where a single slope has failed and the remainder is sound, the report names that slope and prices it alone. The written answer from BCS or the council, where one is needed, travels with the price.
Trade words are explained as we go. The ridge is the crest of the roof, the hips run down the outside corners of a hipped roof, the valleys are the inside angles where two slopes meet, and the flashing is the metal that seals each junction. Each gets a photograph and a short note, so the report reads as a plain account of the whole roof rather than a list of problems.
St Mary's, the Dundas Arms and the 1970 designation
The Kintbury conservation area dates from 1970, and its boundary lies within about 0.75 km of the village centre. Adding a dormer, or altering the street face of a roof, is worth a conversation with West Berkshire Council first. Whether an Article 4 direction applies to your address is the council's call, and we ask the council first, before anything on the roof changes shape or material.
St Mary's church is listed at Grade II* (list entry 1117242, first listed on 6 February 1962). The Dundas Arms Inn is Grade II (1117250, first listed on 10 September 1951) and Kintbury Park is Grade II (1313114). Historic England records 17 listed buildings within about 500 metres of the village centre. If St Mary's proves to be an Anglican church still in use, its works go through the faculty system instead, while the inn and the park need listed building consent like any other listed building.
The whole village also lies inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB. The partnership that looks after it is advisory only, and West Berkshire Council remains the planning authority. Like a conservation area, the designation means a new dormer or a reshaped roof is a question for the council before anything is drawn.
On planning, the partnership says the lead belongs to the local authority, with Natural England consulted. In Kintbury that means West Berkshire Council reads any application for a change of shape, and the downs partnership has no vote. An in-kind repair or re-covering adds no further step, though a quick call to the council costs nothing and puts the reply on file.
A listed house adds a second layer: listed building consent for change that affects its character. We start from a repair in the same material, record the size, colour and fixing of the existing tiles or slates, and prepare a short written description and photographs for the planning officer. Our guide to listed building roof repairs sets out the route.
Matching matters more in a village that is protected on two counts. The designation concerns scenery and setting rather than single tile repairs, so mending a roof in kind leaves the view as it was. A tile that is the wrong colour shows from the churchyard path, and a roofline that steps up by a few centimetres shows from the street. We aim for a repair that no one notices.
“A Kintbury roof answers to West Berkshire for planning and to BCS for building control.”
A West Berkshire scaffold licence, week by week
Scaffolding erected over a road or pavement requires a licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and the grantor in Kintbury is West Berkshire Council. West Berkshire Council's page makes a scaffolding provider the applicant instead of the resident, so the scaffolder files on the customer's behalf. West Berkshire wants the application at least 10 working days ahead of the planned erection date.
West Berkshire's fee is £125, plus £71 per week, and the licence is paid for by the week rather than by a fixed period. A scaffold left up for a month because the weather or the consent delayed the work costs more than one planned tightly, so we sequence the job to keep the scaffold up for as short a time as the work allows.
The Environment Agency's Flood Map for Planning shows part of the ground within about 250 metres of the village centre as Flood Zone 3. That map concerns land and rivers, not roofs. We still trace where each gutter and downpipe discharges on the survey and tell you what we find, because roof water has to go somewhere and a blocked outlet shows up in damp walls first.
Services that suit Kintbury's roofs run from roof repairs after slipped tiles, through pitched roofing and chimney repairs, to replacing a worn-out slope. Where a chimney stack has lost its flashing, the repair is done from the same scaffold, which saves a second visit and a second week of licence. When a Kintbury roof leaks, the first visit is about stopping water getting in, with a temporary cover and any loose tiles secured. The permanent repair is planned once we have seen what lies beneath.
The site is swept every evening and the waste goes with us, so a Kintbury lane is passable and the churchyard path is not littered with broken tile.
As the licence is charged by the week, sequencing matters. Materials are delivered ahead of the scaffold, each slope is stripped and re-covered in turn, and the frame comes down the moment the final flashing is dressed. A late delivery leaves the frame standing and a week's licence running, so stock is confirmed before a date is fixed.
If water is coming in, tell your insurer, then ring or message us and the roof is made safe. Keep photographs and receipts, and check the wording your policy uses for a storm before a claim is made. The Financial Ombudsman Service, on 0800 023 4567, explains how it weighs storm cases.
Kintbury homes: our roof services
Kintbury roofs: the 1970 designation, BCS and the licence
Does the Kintbury conservation area stop me re-covering a house roof?
Not by itself. Re-covering a house in kind is the simplest case, while a new dormer raises a separate planning question in a conservation area or the National Landscape, and a listed house needs listed building consent too. Ask West Berkshire Council's planning team before anything changes the look of the roof.
Is BCS the same as West Berkshire Council for building control?
BCS, Building Control Solutions, is the local authority building control service in Berkshire, run as a partnership of West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council. For Kintbury it is the body that handles Building Regulations on a roof, on 0300 790 0580, while planning stays with West Berkshire Council.
How is a Kintbury scaffold licence charged?
West Berkshire Council's fee is £125, plus £71 per week, so the licence is charged weekly, and the council wants no less than ten working days' notice before the scaffold goes up. The application has to come from the scaffolding provider, not the resident, so arranging it with the scaffolder is ours to do. Scaffolding on private land falls outside the licence.
Do the Church of St Mary and the Dundas Arms change what my neighbour's roof needs?
Only if your own house is itself listed or lies within the designated area. Both buildings are listed, the church Grade II* and the inn Grade II, but a listing protects the building itself. Still, a scaffold near them is visible from the village, so we plan access and sheeting with the street view in mind.
The villages that meet Kintbury
Make an appointment to have your Kintbury roof checked
Give us the address with a single photograph. We survey, ask BCS or the council where needed, and write one price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.