Roofers in West Wellow
Listed cottages and homes on the edge of the New Forest
West Wellow has 14 listed buildings near its centre, and part of the village sits inside the New Forest National Park. Each roof gets a proper survey first.
West Wellow roofs, cottage by cottage
Grade II listed cottages
Buttons, Oak Cottage and Slab Cottage, each listed Grade II, where work touching the roof's character needs consent first.
Homes by the Forest boundary
Houses on the edge where the National Park reaches into the village, so the planning authority depends on the address.
Village houses and extensions
Ordinary family houses, porches and rear additions across the village, dealt with according to how each roof is made.
West Wellow among the Forest-edge villages
Sherfield English lies to the north and Landford to the west. Romsey is to the east, Copythorne and Netley Marsh to the south-east, and Whiteparish to the north-west.
- Distance
- 20.4 road miles south of Andover
- Planning
- Test Valley Borough Council
- Council
- Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council
The West Wellow roof report
Local editionWest Wellow, HampshireListed cottages and the National Park boundary
One village, two possible planning authorities: how the address decides a West Wellow roof
West Wellow is 20.4 road miles south of Andover, close to the New Forest. Here is how Test Valley and the National Park Authority divide the village, what its listed cottages ask of a roof, and how Hampshire licenses a scaffold.
Test Valley, unless the address is in the Park
Most of West Wellow is planned by Test Valley Borough Council, while Hampshire County Council maintains the roads. The village lies on the edge of the New Forest National Park, though, and the boundary cuts through the ground around the centre. The mapping places the village centre outside the Park but roughly a third of the measured area round it inside. So the authority that handles your roof depends on your address, not on the name of the village on the postcode.
Houses near the boundary are the awkward ones. A line on a map can fall close to a garden fence, and a postcode is a poor guide to which side a house stands on. For an address near the edge we read the boundary map against the property itself and give you the result in writing before any application is drawn up, so you never design a roof change for the wrong authority.
The rule is simple once you have the address. On its householder page, New Forest District Council says a property within the National Park needs a planning application to the Park Authority. Outside the Park, Test Valley Borough Council is the planning authority. Either way, the body that handles planning does not handle building control: a National Park Authority covers planning only, and building control stays with the district or unitary council.
For building control at a West Wellow address we write your building control body, and confirm which team it is ahead of any re-roof. The team gets the details of your roof, and its reply is passed on with the price. A private route is open through a registered building control approver, regulated since 6 April 2024.
The Planning Portal sets the national yardstick. If less than 25 per cent of the building envelope, and less than 50 per cent of the roof, is being altered, a building control application is not normally needed. Weight is judged on its own: a new covering at least 15 per cent heavier than the old does need approval, and the Planning Portal suggests having an engineer or surveyor inspect the structure first. Moving from a light covering to heavy concrete is the swap that earns the check.
Planning law also treats a National Park differently from open countryside, with tighter control over changes to a roof's shape. Our guide to listed building roof repairs covers the consent side, and whichever authority holds the planning file can say whether an Article 4 direction touches your address. We ask at the survey, before a price is written.
Buttons, Oak Cottage and the village list
The National Heritage List records 14 listed buildings within about 500 metres of the centre of West Wellow. Three are named on the record. Buttons is listed Grade II (list entry 1093627, first listed on 23 February 1976), Oak Cottage is Grade II (1093597, first listed on 2 August 1985), and Slab Cottage is Grade II as well (1301051). A neighbour's roof may be one of those entries, so the West Wellow survey checks the list for the houses beside yours.
Listing leaves a house its ordinary permitted development rights, but anything that alters the building's special character needs listed building consent. For a roof that usually means a change of material, a different tile or slate, or a new roof window. Repairing with matching materials is where any conversation begins, and the planners judge where the line falls. Our guide to listed building roof repairs sets out the process step by step.
On a listed survey we photograph the covering in close detail: the size and colour of the tiles or slates, how each is fixed, the ridge and the verge, the flashings at the chimney and the battens that can be seen from the loft. We count what can be lifted and reused, and what has to be bought in as a match. That record goes to the planning team with the application, which helps it see what is proposed.
Where a match has to be found, salvage-yard tiles and slates are often the better answer on an old roof, since new ones of the same size rarely weather to match for years. We would rather spend a few days sourcing sound old material than put a bright new patch into a roof that has aged evenly.
Forest Central (North) is among the conservation areas, and it lies within about 2.5 km. That does not tell you whether your own address is inside one, and we make no assumption either way. The planning authority's map answers it, and we look at that map during the survey. Inside a conservation area, a roof's appearance from the road faces closer control.
Most work in the village is not listed work at all. A slipped ridge tile, a failed valley or a blocked gutter on an unlisted house is a repair, and the survey tells you which it is before any question of consent comes up. When it does come up, the answer reaches you with the price, so the morning the scaffold arrives brings no surprises.
“In West Wellow, the address on the front door decides which planning authority answers.”
Scaffolding on Forest-edge lanes, and the jobs we price
Highway matters in West Wellow belong to Hampshire County Council, so any scaffold occupying the highway needs the county's licence, which stems from section 169 of the Highways Act 1980. Applications come from the scaffolding firm in Hampshire County Council's scheme, the lead time is 10 clear working days, tacit consent plays no part, and a licence that runs out cannot be extended. In fees, Hampshire County Council asks £211.90 on application for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2-week period.
Private roads need no county licence, which suits a house reached by a private lane or shared drive. Where a cottage stands back from the road, the scaffold may sit entirely on private ground, and the price reflects that. Where the cottage stands at the pavement edge, dates are set with the scaffolder after the survey, because the licence clock only starts once the application is in.
Listed jobs add one more wait. If consent is still pending, the application for the licence waits for it, since there is no point in a structure on the pavement with no permission to touch the roof behind it. A start date follows once both permissions have arrived, and not before.
Services for West Wellow roofs cover the whole roof. Roof repairs cover cracked or slipped tiles and failed flashings, slate roofing covers older roofs where the nails holding the slates have rusted, and pitched roofing covers whole slopes whose useful life is over. Every job begins with the same survey and a set of photographs, which put the fault in front of you.
For a leak that is already coming in, the order is the same wherever the house stands. We make the roof safe first, trace the water back to the point where it enters instead of the point where it shows, and describe a repair to suit the material. A tarpaulin buys time without mending anything, and the photographs show the lasting fix what it must cope with. Chimneys, gutters and fascias get the same scrutiny, since a stained wall below often points to one of them.
Where a roof sits under trees, leaves and twigs find their way into valleys, gutters and the gaps behind them. A survey includes the places where debris gathers, because a blocked outlet can imitate a failed covering. Clearing and re-seating a gutter is a smaller job than a re-roof, and the photographs make clear which of the two the roof needs.
From ridge to gutter in West Wellow
West Wellow roofs: Park, listings and scaffold
Is my West Wellow house inside the New Forest National Park for planning?
It depends on the address. The village centre lies outside the Park, while some of the surrounding ground falls within it. Test Valley Borough Council handles planning outside the Park, and the Park Authority handles it inside. Check the boundary map, or ask us to read it during the survey and tell you which authority applies before you plan any alteration.
What consent does a listed cottage roof in West Wellow need?
Works that change a listed building's character call for listed building consent, for example a different tile or slate. Matching materials are the normal starting point. Buttons, Oak Cottage and Slab Cottage are all listed Grade II. Raise it with the planning team in good time, and we will photograph the roof so the officer sees what exists.
Does a West Wellow lane need a scaffold licence for a roof job?
Only when the scaffold would occupy the public highway. Hampshire County Council issues that licence, the scaffolding company applies, and the lead time is 10 clear working days. Hampshire County Council charges £211.90 on application for the first 2 weeks. On a private road or drive no county licence arises, so a scaffold kept on private ground avoids it.
Does the Forest Central (North) conservation area affect West Wellow roofs?
Forest Central (North) is the closest conservation area, placed by the planning map within about 2.5 km. That does not decide your address either way. Check the planning authority's conservation area map, because altering a roof's appearance faces stricter rules inside one. The map is read on site and the result is recorded for you.
Forest-edge villages near West Wellow
A West Wellow roof, surveyed before it is priced
Book with an address and roof photo. Park or borough is settled first, and one total price follows in writing.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.