Roofers in Speen
Where Speen meets Newbury and the edge of the downs
Speen lies about a mile north-west of Newbury, where three conservation areas meet. A survey comes first, and then we tell you what the roof needs in everyday language.
Speen roofs between Newbury and the downs
Donnington Village streets
Houses near the Donnington Village conservation area, where the lane view of a roof falls within planning.
Listed pub and house
The Hare and Hounds Inn and Elmore House, both Grade II and both first listed on 6 June 1952.
Leighton Lodge and neighbours
Leighton Lodge, Grade II, among 28 listed buildings within about 500 metres of the centre of Speen.
Speen between Newbury and Enborne
Newbury lies a mile to the south-east, with Shaw to the east and Greenham beyond. Enborne is to the south-west, Cold Ash to the east and Chieveley to the north.
- Distance
- 17.6 road miles north of Andover
- Planning
- West Berkshire Council
The Speen roof report
Local editionSpeen, West BerkshireThree conservation areas and a county line
A Berkshire village on the Newbury edge: who rules on a Speen roof
Speen is a West Berkshire village, 17.6 road miles from Andover and across the county line. This report sets out the conservation areas around the village, the building control partnership, the downs designation and the scaffold licence.
Three conservation areas around one village
Speen is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, and its 2,679 usual residents at the 2021 Census live under a different set of councils from Andover's. West Berkshire is a unitary council with no county layer above it, so one body decides planning applications and also licenses scaffold on the roads. A roof job here follows West Berkshire's pages, not Hampshire's, however short the drive from Andover.
Three conservation areas reach into the area around the village: Donnington Village, Newbury Town Centre and Speen itself, which shows how closely the town and the village overlap. The Donnington Village area lies within about 0.75 km of the centre. Their boundaries are drawn by West Berkshire Council, and they follow particular streets. Which of the three a particular house falls into is a map question, so we check the council's map when we survey and give you the result. If you wonder whether an Article 4 direction applies to your address, ask West Berkshire Council directly, since only the council can answer it.
Listed buildings add to the picture. The Hare and Hounds Inn (list entry 1220580) and Elmore House (1290774) are both Grade II, both first listed on 6 June 1952, and Leighton Lodge (1220582) is Grade II as well. Historic England's list holds 28 listed buildings within about 500 metres of the village centre, so an ordinary house is quite likely to have a protected neighbour. Work that alters a listed house's character cannot go ahead without listed building consent, which has to be in place before scaffold is ordered. Our guide to re-roofing in a conservation area explains how the planning side works for a whole new covering.
In the survey the roof is read as a record of how the house was built. We measure the tiles or slates and note how each is fixed to the battens, the thin timber strips beneath. We photograph each valley, the trough that carries rain down between two slopes. Flashings, the metal collars and strips that keep rain out where the roof meets masonry, get the same attention, because they tend to fail long before the covering does.
Where a tile has to be replaced, a reclaimed match is tried first so the repair blends with the roofs around it, and the colour is checked in daylight against the old. In a conservation area that is the sensible choice as well as the careful one.
Photographs matter here. They let an officer at the council, a neighbour or a buyer's surveyor see precisely what changed and how the roof stood before.
West Berkshire, Building Control Solutions and the downs
For Building Regulations, Speen falls under Building Control Solutions (BCS), the service run by West Berkshire Council in partnership with Wokingham Borough Council. Its telephone number is 0300 790 0580. A private option exists in the registered building control approver, whose register opened on 6 April 2024. Whichever you pick, we confirm what applies before the job starts.
The Planning Portal supplies the nationwide measure when a roof is being re-covered. Where under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is involved, an application is normally unnecessary. By envelope the Portal means the roof together with every wall, the floor and the glazing. Patching a slope sits comfortably inside that. Stripping and re-covering a whole roof may not. Separately, weight matters: 15 per cent extra on the old covering, or beyond, needs sign-off and a structural look at any size. Neither BCS nor the council gives a separate percentage of its own, so the Portal's figures stand.
The edge of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB, touches the land around Speen, although the village point itself lies outside it. Owners often ask whether that puts the downs partnership in charge. It does not. The partnership offers advice. The decision is the council's, and Natural England has a right to be consulted.
What the designation changes is the level of care expected. Matching materials and sensible detail are the safe course for any roof in or near a National Landscape. A plain repair on a modern house is an everyday job, while a change of colour or finish on a prominent older roof is worth raising with the council first.
Not every Speen job goes near building control at all. Replacing a broken ridge tile, rebedding a hip, renewing a flashing or clearing a blocked valley are repairs, and they sit outside the thresholds above. We say plainly at the survey which side of the line the work falls, and we write it on the page you take away so nobody has to remember a conversation.
After the survey you hold the photographs, a short description of each fault, the route via BCS or an approver, and a single written total. If anything is still being decided, you are told what it could delay. A repair booked on a Speen street should never stall because a form was missed, and a reply that is awaited is chased on your behalf.
“Speen sits in West Berkshire, so Berkshire's councils decide its roofs, not Hampshire's.”
West Berkshire scaffold licences for Speen houses
Where a house is built hard against the road, the frame stands on the public highway, and section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence. In Speen the highway authority is West Berkshire Council. West Berkshire Council's scaffold page tells scaffolding contractors to apply for the customer, which means you never fill in a form.
West Berkshire Council wants the application in 10 or more working days ahead of erection. West Berkshire Council charges £125, plus £71 per week, until the frame comes down. The council says it can generally refund only 50% where an application has errors or is withdrawn before approval, and nothing afterwards, so the dates are worth settling before anyone applies. Private roads fall outside the licence altogether.
In practice we look at the plot first. A cottage set back behind a garden may need no scaffold on the highway at all, and a ladder or tower on your own ground can reach a low roof for a small repair. A single-storey rear extension is a common example, because its slope is within reach from the garden. Where the road is involved, we plan the weeks of the licence around the real programme so that you pay for as little standing time as possible.
Whatever the age of a Speen house, the jobs that follow are mostly the plain kind. Roof repairs handle slipped tiles and flashings that have failed. A slate roof needs its nails inspected as well as its slates, since slates often fail through rust in the nails before the stone itself gives out. A single slipped slate is usually refixed on a copper tingle, a small strip hooked under the course above. Chimney repairs put right a stack whose mortar joints or lead have failed.
If your house backs on to open ground, a scaffold on the garden side needs no highway licence, and materials can come through a side gate. We walk the plot with you at the survey and mark where each delivery will stand.
On any built-up road, a delivery of tiles or a skip needs thought about where it can stand without blocking a neighbour. We agree the position with you in advance and keep the road and pavement clear at the end of each day. Any scaffold tower or ladder left overnight is made secure, and loose materials are taken down off the roof before we leave.
The order never changes: survey, photographs, consent route, licence, scaffold, repair, clear-up. You are told which stage we have reached and what happens next, so nobody is left guessing who is coming or when.
Speen roofs: conservation areas, BCS and the scaffold
Does the Donnington Village conservation area limit the tile I can choose in Speen?
Inside a conservation area, how a roof appears from the lane is a planning matter, so agree any change of colour or material with West Berkshire Council before you buy. Restoring what was already there is the safest course. Ask the council too whether an Article 4 direction covers your address before any tiles are ordered.
Who checks Building Regulations on a Speen re-roof?
Building Control Solutions (BCS), the partnership of West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council, deals with them, or a registered building control approver if you prefer. Whether your job needs an application is established before it is booked. A covering 15 per cent or more heavier than its predecessor always does, with a structural check to go with it.
How much lead time does a Speen scaffold licence need from West Berkshire?
West Berkshire Council wants the form 10 or more working days ahead, and the scaffolding contractor files it for the customer. West Berkshire's fee is £125, plus £71 per week. Private roads fall outside the licence. We fix the dates with the scaffolder before you commit to a start, so the weeks you pay for are the weeks we work.
Is my own Speen house on the National Heritage List?
Search Historic England's National Heritage List for your address, or ask us to look it up at the survey. There are 28 listed buildings within about 500 metres of the centre of Speen, so a neighbour's listing is common, but only your own house's entry brings listed building consent into your repair. We note the result.
Get a Speen roof looked at properly
Send the road name and a photo. We survey, work out which consents apply, then send a single written price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.