Broomfield · 24.2 road miles north of Folkestone
Roofers in Broomfield
Two Grade II farmhouses and the conservation areas named by Canterbury City Council lie around Broomfield, so an address here is checked against the maps before any slate or tile is touched. The verdict and the reasons come first, and the price follows.
- Designated areas nearby
- Broomfield; Hawe Farm; Ford, Maypole and Oldtree (Hoath), each a conservation area under Canterbury City Council
- On the heritage list
- Parsonage Farmhouse and Spicers Farmhouse, both Grade II
- By road
- About 39 minutes from Folkestone
- Licence for the road
- Kent County Council, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027
Three Broomfield roofs and the verdict each one earned
What we found
A gutter bracket let go at the eaves
What it fairly needs
Refix it and reset the fall.
What we found
Work on a listed farmhouse
What it fairly needs
Ask the council before any scaffold.
What we found
Sagging battens on one full slope
What it fairly needs
Strip the slope and lay it afresh.
The fair ledger
Listed farmhouses, designated land and the approvals behind a Broomfield roof
Broomfield sits among list entries and conservation areas, so the first question on a roof here is whose agreement is needed before work begins. Three entries follow, and each one ends in a verdict.
Entry 01Listed farmhouses
Parsonage Farmhouse and Spicers Farmhouse: who says yes to roof work
Both farmhouses are Grade II on the National Heritage List, first listed on 14 May 1976. A listed address changes the order of work, because consent comes before the scaffold goes up.
Consent comes before the scaffold
Historic England holds the list entries, numbered 1318924 for Parsonage Farmhouse and 1084981 for Spicers Farmhouse. A list entry tells you a building is protected. It does not tell you what is on the roof today, how sound the timbers are, or whether the work you have in mind touches the part that is protected.
Canterbury City Council says changes that affect the building's character call for listed building consent. Listed homes keep their permitted development rights for roof work, but consent is the extra step, and the council is the body that grants it. Parsonage Farmhouse and Spicers Farmhouse share a list date, but each has its own roof and its own history. A repair that leaves the roof looking as it did is a different conversation from a change of covering, so we describe the work to the council in specific terms, slope by slope, and then wait for the reply.
That wait is part of the programme. A scaffold booked for a Monday and then held up by a missing consent costs you a week on the highway licence and gives the weather a second chance at the roof. We would rather the order of events is right than quick.
Does a listed farmhouse need consent to refix a few slipped tiles?
It turns on whether the work alters the building's character, and the council decides that, not us. A like-for-like refix is the sort of job we describe to Canterbury City Council in writing before anything is booked, then we pass on the reply.
What we put in front of the council
- The address and the list entry number, so nobody is looking at the wrong farmhouse.
- A photograph of every slope, the chimneys and the eaves, taken from the yard and from a ladder.
- What the survey found under the covering, written in plain words.
- What we propose to do, slope by slope, and what stays exactly as it is.
If the question is bigger than a repair, our planning guide for roof work sets out where planning permission starts. Our pitched roofing service shows how a survey of a protected roof runs.
Loose tiles, battens sound
Refix, tell the council
Whole slope to be re-covered
Consent first
Entry 02Designated land
Broomfield, Hawe Farm and Hoath: the map that settles each road
Broomfield; Hawe Farm; and Ford, Maypole and Oldtree (Hoath) are designated conservation areas near the centre. Canterbury City Council says its district has 97 in all.
What a designation changes for a roof
Permitted development normally covers ordinary re-roofing in a conservation area as well. What changes is the care taken: the council holds each boundary, and some roads carry an Article 4 direction that withdraws rights the rest of the area keeps. An Article 4 direction may strip further rights from the roads it covers, so check with Canterbury City Council before you assume yours has none.
The council says you can view areas covered by an Article 4 Direction on its map. We open that map for your address at the survey, because a boundary can run down the middle of a lane and leave two neighbours on different footings.
Each of the three areas has its own edge, drawn by the council. Broomfield, Hawe Farm and the Ford, Maypole and Oldtree area at Hoath are separate designations, so a house that sits in one tells you nothing about a house in another. We never read a boundary from memory or from the name of a road.
97
conservation areas in Canterbury City Council's district, by its own count
Canterbury City Council
What we do before a price is written
Photographs of the street face go to the council with the address and a short description of the work. We ask whether a direction, if there is one, reaches that road, and we write the answer into the quote. If the answer is slow to arrive, the price waits with it. A figure given before the answer is a guess that you would then have to hold us to.
Anything beyond a re-cover, such as a roof window or an enlargement, goes to the planning guide and the council together, and the council's reply is attached to the quote you are given. Our roof windows service explains how those jobs are planned, and it starts with the same photographs.
Gutters and fascias on a street face are part of that picture as well, so a replacement run is described alongside the roof. The council sees one job, not three separate ones.
Myth: In a conservation area the roof cannot be touched.
Fact: Ordinary re-roofing is normally permitted development there, though an Article 4 direction can take rights away, so the council is asked first.
When building control gets involved
The Planning Portal's test is that a small re-cover is not normally a matter for an application: less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof affected. If the new covering is 15 per cent or more heavier, approval is needed, and the Planning Portal advises checking the loading with a structural engineer or surveyor beforehand. We work out the weight question at the survey, not on the day. Under AD L 2021, where more than 50% of the roof surface is renovated, the whole roof is expected to reach the improved U-value of 0.16 W/m²K in Table 4.3 (0.35 is the threshold), provided that is technically feasible and repays within 15 years. That edition applies until 24 March 2027, so the survey records what insulation is in the roof now.
In Broomfield, Canterbury City Council sends applicants to STG Building Control Partnership, which also serves Gravesham, Medway and Swale. STG's number is 01634 331133. Either the council's own team or a registered approver can act as building control, so we confirm who is acting before a start date is set.
Entry 03Approvals
Re-covering a Broomfield roof: STG, the weight test and the road
A re-roof raises two practical questions: does building control need to know, and can a scaffold stand on the highway. Both have published answers.
What sets the price
- How much of the roof is re-covered
- What the timbers beneath need
- Whether the road needs a licence
- Whether the new covering is heavier
One written total price
A scaffold on the road
Highways in Broomfield belong to Kent County Council, and it expects the scaffolding company to send in the licence application. Its permit for scaffolding on the highway covers 7 calendar days at a time, and renewals go in five working days ahead. We arrange it with our scaffolder.
Where the scaffold can stand wholly on your own land, there is no highway to licence, and the survey notes which case you are in. If the frontage is narrow, we flag it early, because a licence application needs the scaffold's position and the date it will stand, and neither can be guessed. Our roof replacement service covers how a full re-cover is planned around that.
A Broomfield roof you would like looked at before anything is decided?
Send a few photographs or ring the office, and we will arrange a visit to look at the slopes, the chimneys and the gutters together.
Broomfield, north on the road from Folkestone
Broomfield is 24.2 road miles north of Folkestone, about 39 minutes by road. At the 2021 Census the parish of Herne and Broomfield had 8,765 usual residents, a figure that covers more than Broomfield itself. A handful of photographs, one from the road, one from the landing window and one through the loft hatch, let us say what a visit should cover. The survey that follows leads to one written total price, and nothing is lifted or taken apart before you have seen it. If you would rather talk first, ring the office and describe the problem in your own words.
Broomfield roof questions, answered with the reasons
Can I repair a roof near Broomfield's conservation areas without applying for anything?
Permitted development normally covers ordinary re-roofing in a conservation area, so a repair does not normally need an application of its own. An Article 4 direction may strip further rights from the roads it covers, so check with Canterbury City Council for yours. We put the address to the council before pricing, and the quote carries whatever the council replies, in the council's own words.
Who deals with Building Regulations for a Broomfield re-roof?
Canterbury City Council's building control work goes through STG Building Control Partnership, on 01634 331133. Whether an application is needed starts with the Planning Portal test of less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof. At the survey we place your job against that line and explain the reasoning in plain words, with measurements for the slopes affected.
Who applies for the scaffold licence at a Broomfield house?
For Kent County Council the company putting up the scaffold is the one to apply, and its permit for 7 calendar days is £52 per week for 2026 to 2027. We arrange it with our scaffolder, and the one written price already allows for it. You are not asked to fill in a form, and no separate invoice for the licence reaches you.
Does a Grade II farmhouse in Broomfield need a different kind of survey?
The survey looks at the same things, but it is written for a second reader at the council as well as for you: dated photographs of each slope, the eaves and the chimneys, and a description of exactly what would change. Changes to a listed building's character need listed building consent, so a clear written record helps the council reply quickly and helps you see exactly what was agreed.
What if only one slope of a Broomfield roof has failed?
Then we look closely at that slope and tell you whether it can be repaired. The Planning Portal's thresholds measure how much of the roof is affected, so work on a single slope can stay well under them. If the neighbouring slopes are not far behind, we show you in photographs, and you choose the moment for the next stage rather than being pushed into it now.
Farmhouse or not, start with photographs
You'll get one written total price.