Westwell · 18.9 road miles north-west
Roofers in Westwell
Westwell lies within the Kent Downs National Landscape and has a designated conservation area, a Grade I church and two Grade II houses on the national list, all within the one small village. For a roof here the survey starts with the loft and the list entries together, so that the repair, the paperwork and the price are all answered in the same visit and set out in the same write-up.
- St Mary's, Westwell
- Grade I; a Church of England church still in use, so roof works need a faculty
- Two Grade II houses
- Swinford Cottage and Court Lodge, each with a national list entry
- Kent Downs setting
- A National Landscape; the district council, not the Downs team, decides applications
- Westwell conservation area
- Designated, with its map held by Ashford Borough Council
Underlay laps, cottage verge, ridge line: three Westwell faults and their stamps
What we found
Daylight showing through the loft underlay
What it fairly needs
Find the opening before deciding.
What we found
Ridge line gapped, tiles themselves sound
What it fairly needs
Rebed and refix the ridge only.
What we found
Battens crumbling across a whole slope
What it fairly needs
New battens, underlay and covering.
Send a photograph of your Westwell roof and the lane it faces
The fair ledger
A church, two cottages, the Downs and the loft: Westwell in order
Westwell stacks several layers on to one roof: a list entry or two, a conservation boundary and a Downs designation. Each entry names the layer, says who decides, and then reads the roof beneath it.
Entry 01Church and cottages
St Mary's, Swinford Cottage and Court Lodge: what the three listings mean
One Grade I church and two Grade II houses are named on the list for Westwell, and a roof near any of them is not automatically covered.
Three names on the national list
Historic England gives St Mary's church Grade I (list entry 1068690), Swinford Cottage at Grade II (list entry 1071340) and Court Lodge at Grade II (list entry 1068722). St Mary's is a Church of England church in use, which sends its roof work through the faculty system and away from the council desk. The two houses follow the ordinary route instead. Alterations touching their character call for listed building consent, a decision that rests with Ashford Borough Council and is sought before work starts.
Standing near one of them tells you nothing about your own roof. A farmhouse down the lane may be listed while a cottage beside the churchyard is not, and the one dependable test is a search of the list. We make it before the survey, so by the time we reach the roof we know whether the covering needs consent as well as repair, and which of the two questions comes first. For a listed house the consent comes first, since a repair cannot sensibly be priced until the council has been asked.
Should your house be listed, the photographs from the visit go to the council with a description of the work in its own terms. Our pitched roofing page explains the repairs and re-covers, and roof inspections shows what the write-up contains.
Beside the churchyard
Listed roof with slipped tiles
Consent, then refix
Ridge bedding crumbling, tiles dry
Rebed the ridge
Rafters sagging beneath the covering
Strip, reframe, re-cover
Do I need the council before touching a loose tile on a listed house?
Possibly. What counts is whether the repair touches what makes the building special, and one tile put back as it was may not. Because the council decides that, not a roofer, we describe the job to Ashford Borough Council in the survey and note its view on the quote before any work begins.
Entry 02Downs designation
Inside the Kent Downs with a village conservation area: two separate checks
Westwell lies within the Kent Downs National Landscape and also has its own conservation area, so a roof can meet two overlays at once.
Two overlays, one deciding council
The Kent Downs National Landscape, formerly an AONB, includes Westwell. By its own account the Kent Downs team gives advice to councils and takes no planning decisions, so for any application at a Westwell address the decision is Ashford Borough Council's. A designation of this kind shapes how the council weighs a proposal; it does not hand the decision to a different body. The reading of a roof inside it does not change either, and a roof is surveyed in the same order as anywhere else, from ridge to eaves.
The Westwell conservation area is a second, separate layer. It is designated, with its boundary held by Ashford Borough Council, which reports 43 conservation areas across the borough. Which edge of the boundary a given house lies on is for the map to show, and we check it in advance rather than trusting the look of the road. Article 4 is a third question. Where a direction applies it takes certain permitted development rights away, and the council can confirm whether a direction reaches your road.
Plain repairs carry on as they would anywhere. If you are thinking about changing the shape of the roof, read our planning permission guide first, since both layers bear on that sort of change.
Does the National Landscape label slow down an ordinary repair?
Not by itself. An ordinary repair is carried out under the normal rules, and the label comes into play for larger changes, where the council weighs the proposal. Your address is placed on the council's map at the start, so that you hear about any extra step during the survey and never in the middle of the job.
Grade I
Historic England's grade for St Mary's church, list entry 1068690
Reading the roof from underneath
With the loft hatch open and a torch to hand, we look first for daylight: a pinpoint where there should be none can mark a slipped tile or a gap at a lap. Next the underlay, which should be whole and lapped properly over the rafters, with no tears and no sag holding water. Then the battens that carry the covering, checked for rot and for snapped ends, and the rafters beneath them, checked for staining or soft patches.
Everything gets a photograph, and each defect gets one of three stamps. Repair covers a fault that can be dealt with in place, such as a torn lap or a few failed battens. Replace is for a section past mending. Check means we need a closer look before a verdict is honest, perhaps from outside the roof, or after a stored item has been cleared.
Where the loft cannot be reached safely, the survey says so and relies on the outside inspection instead; nobody is asked to guess. Sarking, insulation laid across the joists and stored boxes can all hide timber, and we move only what is safe to move. One total is then written for the whole roof. Our slate roofing page covers one family of coverings, and the survey tells you which kind you have.
Entry 03Loft side
From the loft hatch: underlay, battens and the rafters that carry them
The loft shows what the slopes hide, so a Westwell survey goes inside where it can and reads the roof from underneath as well as above.
What sets the price
- Area of battens and underlay affected
- Access to the slope
- Condition of the rafters beneath
- Whether the covering can be reused
One written total price
- Covering on the outside
- Batten holding it
- Underlay beneath the battens
- Rafter carrying the lot
Four layers a loft inspection reads, from the covering down to the rafter.
Which layers sit on your Westwell roof: a listing, a boundary, the Downs?
Send a photograph, your road name and a loft picture if you can take one, and every verdict reaches you with its reason attached, ahead of the total.
North-west up to Westwell
Westwell sits north-west of Folkestone: 18.9 road miles, and about 24 minutes in the car. The parish had 1,073 usual residents at the 2021 Census. A photograph of the roof and one from the loft hatch give us a good start, and the list entries and boundary map are read before the visit. If the lane is narrow or steep, say so on the form, because that affects where a scaffold or a delivery can stand.
Westwell owners: loft, listing, Downs and boundary
Plain answers for the houses around the church and along the village lanes.
What does daylight in a Westwell loft tell me about the roof?
It marks an opening, but not always a serious one. Pinpoints of light can come from a slipped tile, a gap at an underlay lap or a hole round a pipe. Note where in the loft you see it, and photograph it if you can. At the survey we trace each point back to the outside, so the quote deals with the opening itself and does not assume the whole roof has failed. A torch switched off in the loft on a bright day makes small openings easier to spot.
How can I tell if a Westwell re-roof falls under Building Regulations?
Start with the Planning Portal. Its guide treats re-roofing as needing no application where the work stays below 25 per cent of the building envelope and below 50 per cent of the roof. Approval is a separate matter if the new covering adds 15 per cent or more to what the roof now carries, and a structural check may follow. For an answer specific to your house, ring Ashford Borough Council's own Building Control team on 01233 330282; the survey gives them the facts to work from.
Does a scaffold in a Westwell lane need a highway licence?
It does if the scaffold stands on the highway, and Kent County Council issues it at £52 per week for 2026 to 2027. Kent County Council's licensing pages say the scaffolding company should apply on the customer's behalf. We arrange it with our scaffolder. In a narrow lane the survey fixes where the poles can stand, which decides whether a licence is needed, and the licence period is set out beside the price.
Does living in the Kent Downs National Landscape stop a roof repair?
No. The Kent Downs team advises and the district council decides, so a plain repair goes ahead under the normal rules. The designation matters for bigger changes, where the council weighs a proposal against it. Westwell lies within the Kent Downs, and your address is looked up against the Downs boundary before the survey, so there are no late surprises. A plain repair, such as a few tiles or a gutter bracket, is carried out in the usual way.
Swinford Cottage and Court Lodge are listed: is my house?
Only a list entry for your own house can say. Those two buildings are Grade II on the national list, and St Mary's is Grade I, but neither makes a neighbour listed. The list is the first thing we search for your address, and the result goes into the write-up either way. If an entry exists, the house needs listed building consent from Ashford Borough Council for work touching its character, and the survey is drafted with that in mind.
In what form does a Westwell quote arrive?
As a single written total after the survey, with the photographs and stamps beneath it. Where a repair will hold, the quote is for the repair and nothing grander; a re-cover appears only for a slope beyond mending. Anything extra spotted during the visit, such as a loose gutter bracket, is folded into the same total, so the figure on the page is the one you pay. The photographs and the stamps stay with you afterwards, in case a buyer or a surveyor later asks what was found.
Westwell roof needs a look? Send a loft photograph.
The total is written once the survey is done.