Roofers in Upham
A conservation area, nineteen listings and the South Downs around them
Upham has 19 listed buildings within 500 metres of its centre, a conservation area, and the South Downs National Park around it. We read each roof before pricing.
Upham roofs, from the Rectory to Shoe Lane
The Rectory
Listed Grade II since 7 February 1952, one of 19 listed buildings within 500 metres of the centre.
Upham's parish church
Grade II since 6 March 1967; as a working Anglican church its roof repairs go by faculty.
1 Shoe Lane
A Grade II listed house in Shoe Lane, so roof changes there need the right consent.
Upham between Owslebury and Bishop's Waltham
Owslebury lies north-west, Bishop's Waltham south-east, Durley south-west and Fair Oak south-west beyond. Waltham Chase is south-east and Colden Common west.
- Distance
- 24.3 road miles south-east of Andover
- Planning
- South Downs National Park Authority
- Council
- Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council
The Upham roof report
Local editionUpham, HampshireA conservation area inside a National Park
Upham's roofs under two layers of protection: who decides, who inspects and what nineteen listings ask
Upham is a Hampshire village of 772 people with a conservation area, inside the South Downs National Park. This report sets out which authority plans, which inspects, how the listings and designations stack up, and how the county scaffold licence works.
A Park authority, a host council and an inspector
Upham parish had 772 usual residents at the 2021 Census, and the village lies inside the South Downs National Park. Planning therefore belongs to the South Downs National Park Authority. Winchester City Council helps as a host authority and handles most of the paperwork for the Authority, while called-in cases are decided by the Authority's Midhurst team. Building Regulations are a separate track: Winchester City Council's own Building Control service inspects (council main number 01962 840 222). Hampshire County Council looks after scaffold licences for the road.
The result is three bodies and four desks, and a roof job can touch any of them, which is why the order of enquiry matters, and why we begin with the lookups before anything else. A cracked ridge tile touches none. A new covering, a dormer or a listed house touches several. We find out early which apply, and your paperwork lists them in order, with the team named for each.
Re-roofing is judged by two cut-offs in the Planning Portal: 25 per cent of the building envelope, which takes in every wall, the floor, the roof and the openings, and 50 per cent of the roof. Stay under each and building control seldom needs an application. We use those figures in Upham and refer any borderline job to Winchester's team before a date is set. A registered building control approver can be appointed in the council's place by anyone who prefers it.
Where a new covering would lift the roof's weight by 15 per cent or more, Building Regulations approval comes in and a structural opinion is advised. We therefore measure the rafters before recommending any change of material, a step that guards against an unsuitable heavy covering, and we write down their size and spacing, since a heavier tile on thin timbers is a recipe for trouble.
The survey follows the water. We start with the gutters and the eaves, move to the slopes, check the valleys and the ridge, and finish at the chimneys. Wherever access allows, a tile or two is raised and the timber and membrane underneath are photographed. Each photograph is tied to a finding in the written report.
A first call works like this. You give us the address, and before anyone travels we look up three things: the Park boundary, the listing position and the conservation area. We tell you what turned up. It is dull, and it saves a wasted visit when the answer changes what kind of job you are planning.
That report arrives before a price does, so the reasoning can be read, questioned and checked by someone else if you wish.
Nineteen listings inside a conservation area
Historic England's list holds 19 listed buildings within 500 metres of the Upham village centre, a dense layer for a village of 772 people. The Rectory is Grade II (list entry 1179850, first listed on 7 February 1952). The parish church, St Mary's, is Grade II (1350596, first listed on 6 March 1967). 1 Shoe Lane is Grade II as well (1095632). The Upham conservation area lies within about 0.75 km of the centre, and the village lies inside the National Park.
The two designations stack. A conservation area and a National Park are both protected land for planning, so a dormer window is a matter for an application here, whatever else is true. Our guide to planning permission for roof work explains how the rules differ for an alteration and a repair. Repair in matching materials is judged on its own terms, apart from changes to a roof's outline.
Where work would alter a listed house's special interest, listed building consent is required, plus planning permission where that applies, and The Rectory and the Shoe Lane house are cases in point, each needing its own reading of the existing covering. The opening position is a like-for-like repair, with the covering, ridge and stack flashings described so that an officer can tell which parts stay and which are replaced.
On the Church of England's A Church Near You listing, St Mary's goes by Blessed Mary, Upham, and holds services on most Sundays; because services continue there, roof work on the church goes by faculty, not listed building consent.
Any Article 4 direction touching your road is for the planning authority to identify, and we put that question for you, recording the reply whatever it turns out to be. Whether a conservation area boundary includes your house is answered by the map, and we check it at the start of the survey.
A listed Grade II rectory, a church and a lane cottage differ in size and in complexity, and the survey scales to each. A larger house has more valleys, more flashings and more chimneys to read, while a small cottage may have one slope that is half the roof. Either way, the findings are tied to photographs.
Photographs matter most in a village like this, where the conservation area makes the street view part of the judgement. We take wide views from the lane and close-ups from the roof, so an officer can judge both how the roof looks from outside and what is wrong with it.
“In Upham a conservation area sits inside a National Park, and both ask questions of a roof.”
A county scaffold licence on village lanes
Where scaffold overhangs a lane or footway in Upham, section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence, and Hampshire County Council is the authority that issues it. Neither the National Park Authority nor Winchester City Council issues one. Hampshire County Council has the scaffolding contractor apply for its customer, so no form lands on the homeowner's desk.
Hampshire County Council requires 10 clear working days before the start, gives no extensions, and charges £211.90 for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2-week period. Scaffold confined to private ground is outside the scheme, and in a village we look hard at whether the work can be reached from the garden instead.
Lanes affect more than the licence. A lorry may not reach the door, a skip may have to stand elsewhere, and a neighbour's gateway can be the only way through. Where a hoist or hand-carrying will do the work of a lorry, the plan says so. The survey records each point, and the plan says how materials will arrive and where they will be kept dry. Neighbours get a short note from us with the dates before the scaffold goes up, since a lane can be blocked for a morning when a lorry arrives, and the site is swept and the waste taken away each day. If water is coming in while consent is pending, the roof is covered temporarily, and the permanent repair follows the decision, so nothing is left open to the weather.
Quotes from other roofers are welcome comparison. Citizens Advice recommends getting at least 3 written quotes, and our photographs hand any of those roofers the same facts to work from.
The everyday jobs come first. Roof repairs answer slipped tiles and perished flashings. Slate roofing suits the buildings that carry it. Chimney repairs cover stacks with weathered pointing, and lead is renewed where a valley or abutment has failed.
Whether to repair or replace comes down to timbers and fixings. One failed spot on a sound roof suggests repair. Where fixings fail across one slope after another, a new covering is the answer, and the photographs show which case it is, so you choose calmly with the evidence to hand.
Owslebury, Bishop's Waltham, Durley, Fair Oak, Waltham Chase and Colden Common are all close. Some are inside the Park, some outside, and each is checked separately before a price is written. What we find is written into the survey notes, so you can see which rules were applied to your house and why.
Roofing help for Upham streets
Upham roofs under Park, listings and lane
Can a dormer go on a house in the Upham conservation area?
Only with planning permission. The conservation area and the National Park are both land that is protected for planning, which shuts off the permitted route for dormers. The application goes to the Park Authority, normally handled for it by Winchester as host. We record the existing structure first, so the application is exact about what is there now and what would change.
Who checks Building Regulations on an Upham roof, the Park or Winchester?
Winchester City Council, through its own Building Control service. Planning alone is the Park Authority's remit. A replacement covering heavier by 15 per cent or more needs Building Regulations approval. Winchester's team sees the larger jobs before booking, and its reply is filed beside the pictures, so the route is on record before the work.
Is 1 Shoe Lane in Upham the only listed house near the lane?
No. Historic England records 19 listed buildings within 500 metres of the centre, and 1 Shoe Lane is one, listed Grade II. Each listing protects its own building, not the houses around it. The heritage list and the Park map are consulted for your address before any work is suggested, and a listed house needs consent for changes to its character.
Does the homeowner file the scaffold licence form in Upham?
No. Hampshire County Council has the scaffolding contractor apply as the customer's agent, with 10 working days clear. Hampshire County Council charges £211.90 for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2-week period. Scaffold standing entirely on your own plot needs none, and whatever the cost it forms part of your one price. We fix the dates at survey.
Ask for an Upham roof survey
Pass on your Upham address and the fault you have seen. We will visit, then quote one written price.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.