Broadstairs, 29.6 road miles north-east
Roofers in Broadstairs
St Mary's Chapel, Lancaster House and Bradstow House are each listed Grade II, the Broadstairs conservation area sits on Thanet's list, and the coastline is 0.12 miles away. A survey and a verdict come before any price.
- Designation on Thanet's list
- Broadstairs, on Thanet District Council's list of 27; the council confirms any address
- Listed trio
- St Mary's Chapel, Lancaster House and Bradstow House, all Grade II
- Parish figure
- 25,116 usual residents at the 2021 Census, for Broadstairs and St Peters together
- Scaffold over the footway
- Kent County Council issues the permit, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027
Broadstairs roofs, gutters included
What we found
Chapel or house with a Grade II entry
What it fairly needs
Find the consent route first.
What we found
Gutter joint dripping, run still level
What it fairly needs
Re-seal the joint, reset the bracket.
What we found
Gutter holding water along its length
What it fairly needs
Rehang with a fall to the outlet.
The fair ledger
Broadstairs: one conservation area, three Grade II listings and a gutter fall
Thanet District Council keeps the conservation area, runs Building Control and decides planning here. The three entries below follow the area boundary, a chapel and two listed houses, and the falls on a gutter.
Entry 01Town boundary
The Broadstairs conservation area: which side of the line your street falls
Thanet District Council's list includes a conservation area named Broadstairs. Your address is checked against that list before a price is set, and the result heads the written findings.
One named area, and why a boundary matters
The conservation area called Broadstairs is on Thanet District Council's list, which has 27 areas in all. A roof inside it is treated differently by the council from one outside it. So we match the address to the list before the survey, and the result goes at the head of the written findings.
Plain re-roofing is normally permitted development, and that is as true inside a conservation area as outside it, for a house with no other restriction on it. Failing roofs are still repaired and re-covered in the ordinary way. What a conservation area changes is how the council looks at wider proposals, and it can sit alongside an Article 4 direction that has taken further rights away from a house.
Three Broadstairs outcomes
Street sits beside the boundary
Council confirms the address
Ridge bedding cracked, tiles sound
Bed it again with fixings
Batten rot along the eaves
Strip the course and re-batten
Asking Thanet about your address
Whether an Article 4 direction has taken further rights from your house is a question for Thanet District Council, and its reply in writing is the document to hold. We will read it with you. Whether the roof is a like-for-like re-cover or something larger, such as a dormer, the planning guide for roof work shows where the questions start.
We would sooner wait for the council's answer than erect a scaffold on a guess. If the answer changes the plan, the price is written after it, not before. The first thing we do on a visit is photograph the front elevation, because that picture is what the council and your own records will be compared with, and it takes only a minute from the pavement.
Entry 02Listed trio
St Mary's Chapel, Lancaster House and Bradstow House on the list
St Mary's Chapel, Lancaster House and Bradstow House are each Grade II. For the chapel, how it is used and by whom decides the consent route, so that is asked first.
Three Grade II entries
Historic England lists St Mary's Chapel (list entry 1239199), Lancaster House (1222974) and Bradstow House (1273608) at Grade II, and the three entries are separate, with nothing joining them. A listed house needs listed building consent for work that would alter its special interest, under LBCA 1990 section 7, while its permitted development rights for roof work remain. Consent is therefore a layer on top of the ordinary rules and not a replacement for them.
A listing belongs to one building. A neighbour with no entry of its own follows the ordinary rules, and we look the list up by address so that neither house is guessed at, whichever side of a shared wall it stands.
An entry says that a building is protected and why. It does not describe the roof, so the condition of the covering, the battens and the flashings is still something we have to establish on the day. The survey does that, and the written verdict keeps the findings separate from the consent question so each can be read on its own.
Myth: A Grade II house can never have its roof covering replaced.
Fact: It can, once listed building consent is in place for anything that alters its character, and the council is sent a description of the roof first.
Why we ask about the chapel's use
A chapel can fall under one of several routes depending on whether it is in use for worship and which body it belongs to. A Church of England church in use goes through the faculty system, Roman Catholic, Methodist and United Reformed churches in use have systems of their own, and Unitarian, Quaker and redundant buildings need ordinary listed building consent. Nothing on the list entry alone tells us which of those applies to St Mary's Chapel.
So we ask the person responsible for the building, and we write nothing down on assumption. Our roof inspection service gives them the photographs and findings to attach to whichever request is right.
What sets the price
- Which consent route applies
- Height and scaffold access
- How much roof is uncovered
- Condition of timbers beneath
One written total price
What a gutter survey measures
Brett Martin, a manufacturer, says guttering should be installed with a downward fall towards the outlet of 1 mm for every 600 mm. A run that sags between brackets, or that sits level, holds a trickle of water where it should shed it, and the joint beneath the pool sits wet for longer. So we look at the fall along each run before we look at anything else, and reset brackets that have dropped. Where a gutter has to be taken down to do that, the downpipe, the stop ends and the joints are all re-seated together, so the run is left falling to its outlet from end to end and not just at the worst spot.
Cupa says coastal buildings are graded with higher exposure, so the fixings holding the first courses above the gutter are worked out for the site under BS 5534. The eaves are where the roof, the underlay and the gutter meet, and a fault at one can show at the others. A gutter that has sagged pulls on its fascia, and a fascia that has softened lets the brackets move, so the survey reads the whole line as a system and does not treat the gutter as a separate item.
Entry 03Gutter falls
Gutters 0.12 miles from the coastline: the fall decides the repair
Brett Martin advises a fall of 1 mm for every 600 mm towards the outlet. A gutter that holds water along its length may simply have lost that fall, which makes it a repair before it is a replacement.
1 mm in 600
fall towards the outlet that Brett Martin advises for guttering
a manufacturer's installation guidance
- Bracket gripping the fascia
- Joint that has dropped
- Outlet at the low point
What the eaves visit records
- The fall along each run, from the high end to the outlet.
- Each bracket, and whether it still grips the fascia.
- Joints between lengths, and the state of the seals.
- The outlet and downpipe, for blockage or a split.
- The fascia and soffit behind and beneath the gutter.
- The first row of tiles above it, and whether the underlay still laps into the gutter.
- The ends of each run, where a stop end or an angle can leak.
The Environment Agency's flood map shows Flood Zone 3 close to the centre of Broadstairs, and that concerns land, not gutters. Our gutters, soffits and fascias service explains the work in full.
Broadstairs, 29.6 road miles from Folkestone
Broadstairs lies 29.6 road miles north-east of Folkestone and the drive takes about 45 minutes. The census parish, Broadstairs and St Peters, had 25,116 usual residents in 2021, a figure that takes in more than the town. For a first look, photographs of the gutter line from the pavement and of any damp patch inside are enough, and a note of when the patch first appeared helps us read it. After the survey comes a verdict on each fault, set out plainly, then one written total price. If the gutter is a repair, the written price covers only that, and if the fascia behind it needs replacing as well, the report shows that too.
Broadstairs roof questions, with the reasons beside each answer
How does a Broadstairs survey tell whether a gutter needs repair or replacement?
We measure the fall along each run against the 1 mm for every 600 mm that Brett Martin advises, check every bracket and joint, and look at the outlet for blockage. A run that has lost its fall because of a dropped bracket is reset and re-sealed. One with split lengths or rotted fascia behind it is replaced. The written verdict names which, with photographs, so you can follow the reasoning, and it says what we left alone and why.
Is St Mary's Chapel in Broadstairs treated like a house for consent?
Not necessarily. The chapel is Grade II, but how consent works depends on whether it is in use for worship and which body it belongs to, and the list entry does not say. We ask the person responsible for the building, whoever that turns out to be, and note the reply in the findings. A house with its own entry needs listed building consent for work affecting its character, and Thanet District Council confirms any doubtful case.
Will a Broadstairs re-roof need a building regulations application?
In the Planning Portal's guide, an application is not normally called for when work touches less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof. Any covering that is 15 per cent or more heavier does call for approval, and so we measure both. The council's own Building Control team, Thanet District Council Building Control on 01843 577522, can be asked, and so can a registered approver. We put the question to whichever is relevant before the work is priced.
Who deals with scaffold permits on a Broadstairs street?
Kent County Council is the highway authority. Kent County Council's scaffolding permit costs £52 per week for 2026 to 2027 and covers 7 calendar days. On Kent County Council's own page, the scaffolding company "should submit the application for you" where scaffolding is needed for work at your property. Whether any pole would stand on the public footway is something the survey settles. The written total price allows for the permit, and we arrange it with our scaffolder.
Does the Broadstairs conservation area stop me re-covering a roof?
No. Plain re-covering is normally permitted development whether or not the street is in a conservation area. The things that can change that are an Article 4 direction, which takes some rights away, or a listing on the building. The council's list holds 27 conservation areas, Broadstairs among them, and Thanet District Council confirms whether your address sits inside one, which is quick to do with a postcode. Send us its reply before any roof work is planned.
Send a Broadstairs gutter or a whole roof
You'll get one written total price.