Wittersham · 25.7 road miles west
Roofers in Wittersham
Wittersham has 1,174 residents (2021 Census), stands inside the High Weald National Landscape and keeps a conservation area of its own. If a roof here is leaking, slipping or simply worrying you, describe it and we will survey it, then say what is worth doing now and what can wait.
- High Weald National Landscape
- Wittersham lies inside it, yet Ashford Borough Council still decides planning applications
- A conservation area of its own
- Wittersham's boundary is on Ashford Borough Council's map, which settles any single address
- Listed cottages
- The Hamel and Corner Cottage the White Cottage, both listed Grade II
- Scaffold on a village road
- Kent County Council licenses it, at £52 a week for 2026 to 2027
Three roof faults a Wittersham survey sorts out
What we found
Listed cottage with a loose ridge
What it fairly needs
Council route before any price.
What we found
Lead lifting at one edge of a wall
What it fairly needs
Dress the lead back and seal it.
What we found
Gutter hung from a board gone soft
What it fairly needs
New board, then re-hang the gutter.
The fair ledger
Listed cottages, a landscape designation and the lane a scaffold stands on
Wittersham has a conservation area, a place inside the High Weald National Landscape and listed cottages such as The Hamel. Three entries below put a plain verdict on what each of those means for a roof, from consent to the highway permit.
Entry 01Listed homes
The Hamel and Corner Cottage: a listed roof meets the council first
The Hamel and Corner Cottage the White Cottage are both listed Grade II. Whether a roof job on a listed house needs consent depends on what it changes, and Ashford Borough Council gives that answer, not the roofer.
What listing adds to a roof job
Roof work on a listed house sits under two sets of rules at once. The permitted development rights for roofs carry on, and listed building consent is layered above them for any job that touches the special character of the building, the test in section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Restoring what is already there is one thing. Switching to a different covering is another, and the ground between the two belongs to the planning officer.
Two Wittersham houses show the point: The Hamel, list entry 1120808, and Corner Cottage the White Cottage, list entry 1362950, each first listed on 9 August 1979. An entry number is the quickest route into the council's files, so use it if you write in. Before a price exists we send the photographs we took on the roof, what we think is wrong and the repair we have in mind, then wait for Ashford Borough Council to answer. Our planning guide for roof work covers the surrounding rules.
Can a loose ridge on a listed cottage be fixed without asking?
It depends on whether the fix alters how the roof looks. Refixing what is there, the same way, is not the same as re-bedding it in something new. Ashford Borough Council receives the address and our plan before we quote, which leaves you holding its reply before you commit to anything. More detail goes to the council on request.
Survey notes that go to the officer
- Close photographs along the eaves and up the verge.
- The state of the rafters beneath any patched area of covering.
- Whether lead around a chimney can be dressed back instead of renewed.
- Past repairs made in a different material.
- Gutter runs, and the boards they hang from.
Nothing here binds you to a job. It hands the council facts in place of guesses, and hands you a verdict in plain terms. When a repair is enough, a repair is the job we price, and the officer is told that in the notes. Our pitched roofing service is where that work is described.
Ridge loose, covering below sound
Refix in the same way
Different material wanted
Ask Ashford Borough Council first
Rafters soft along one slope
Open up and renew
Entry 02High Weald
Inside the High Weald: who signs off and what stays normal
Wittersham stands inside the High Weald National Landscape, once labelled an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The label sits on the land. It is not a body that signs off roof work.
Who signs off and who only advises
The High Weald partnership says plainly that it is no local planning authority, and that planning applications are decided by the 15 local authorities in its area. In Wittersham that means Ashford Borough Council. A plain re-roof carries on under the normal rules whether or not the house lies inside the landscape. Larger jobs, such as a dormer on a loft extension, are treated differently, and the planning guide shows where the lines are drawn.
The map settles whether a particular house stands inside the boundary. We read it before quoting and trust nobody's memory, ours included, because a neighbour's roof says little about yours.
Myth: A National Landscape team signs off roof work in Wittersham.
Fact: It advises. The application goes to Ashford Borough Council, and a plain re-roof is dealt with just as it would be elsewhere.
43
conservation areas that Ashford Borough Council counts across its borough
its interactive map shows each one
Conservation area, checked on a map
Wittersham has a conservation area, and Ashford borough has 43 in all, each drawn on the council's interactive map. Our survey starts with your address and that map, because a roof that looks plain from the lane can still lie inside a boundary that matters. Ashford Borough Council can tell you whether an Article 4 direction takes further rights away from your address, so ask it before work is planned. Three checks come first, before any tools come out.
- Your address against the conservation area boundary.
- Your address against the landscape boundary.
- Anything that would change how the roof looks from the road, raised with the council ahead of pricing.
All three take minutes, and each saves a quote from being rewritten later.
Bracket or board: the sagging gutter test
A gutter dips for one of two reasons. Either a bracket has worked loose, or the fascia behind it, the board the gutter is screwed to, has softened and will not take a fixing. We press a probe into that board. If it goes in, new brackets would only pull out again, so the board is renewed first. If it stays hard, refitting the gutter is the whole job. Dark staining on the soffit, the board under the eaves, goes in the notes too, because it can mean a drip from further up the slope.
When the answer is a bracket, the written price covers a bracket and nothing larger gets suggested. The gutters, soffits and fascias service describes the work in more detail, including how the rainwater is led away once the run is level again. We also check the downpipe outlet and the joints between lengths, since a level gutter that leaks at a joint has only moved the damp.
Entry 03Gutters, scaffold
A sagging gutter: loose bracket or a board that has given up
A gutter that droops can have a loose bracket or a fascia board that will no longer hold a screw. The survey separates the two before anything is ordered.
What sets the price
- Length of gutter run
- Condition of the board behind
- Reach to the eaves
- Whether the road needs a permit
One written total price
- Fascia that carries the gutter
- Gutter along the eaves
- Underlay lapping into the gutter
- Soffit and its vent
A scaffold on a Wittersham lane
A licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 is required before scaffolding obstructs a public road. In Wittersham the licensing body is Kent County Council, the highway authority, and not the district council. Kent County Council expects the scaffolding firm to make that application, and our routine is simple: we arrange it with our scaffolder. Scaffolding that stays inside your own fence line never reaches the highway, which means no permit is involved, and the survey shows which case you are in. That distinction changes both the timetable and the paperwork, which is why it is settled on the first visit. Booking early matters wherever a scaffold meets the road, since the permit has to be in place before the first pole goes up.
The westward run to Wittersham
Wittersham lies west of Folkestone, 25.7 road miles and about 37 minutes by road. Describe the trouble and attach a photo to the form further down, then we fix a time to survey the roof. Our written price follows that visit as one total, never before it, so nothing is quoted blind. If the house is listed, say so when you write, along with the end of the village it stands at, so the right checks are ready before we arrive.
Roof and planning questions from Wittersham homes
Does a listed Wittersham cottage need consent for a roof repair?
Listed building consent comes into it wherever a job touches what makes the house special, and roof permitted development rights remain available as well. Putting a ridge back exactly as it was is one question; re-covering in another material is quite another. Ashford Borough Council decides which side a job falls on, so it receives the address, photographs and our proposal before any quote, and its answer reaches you in writing.
Does being in the High Weald change how a Wittersham roof is re-covered?
A straightforward re-roof follows the usual rules even inside a National Landscape. The High Weald team gives advice only, and Ashford Borough Council remains the body that decides planning applications. Bigger alterations are handled differently, which the planning guide on this site sets out. The boundary map answers whether your own house is inside it, and we consult that map ahead of our quote. Send us the postcode and we will look it up, then report back to you before a price is written.
How is a scaffold licence handled for a Wittersham roof?
Kent County Council, the highway authority for Wittersham, sets the fee at £52 per week for 2026 to 2027 and says the skip or scaffolding company should submit the application for you. Here that translates into one simple thing, which is that we arrange it with our scaffolder, so you are not left chasing a form or waiting on a permit. If the scaffold stands wholly inside your boundary, the highway is not involved at all, and the survey settles which case applies.
Is Building Regulations approval needed to re-roof in Wittersham?
Under the Planning Portal's guidance an application is not normally required for a re-roof that stays under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. A heavier new covering, 15 per cent or more, is judged separately and needs approval, so weight is worth raising before anything is ordered. For your own house, Ashford Borough Council's own Building Control team, on 01233 330282, can confirm, and we will describe the planned work to them.
Could an Article 4 direction touch my Wittersham roof?
Ashford Borough Council can say whether an Article 4 direction removes further rights from your address, and the question is best put before any work is planned. The reach of each direction differs, and a guess from us would be worse than useless. If the council confirms that one applies, pass its reply to us and our survey notes and the written price take it into account from day one, so that no rule surfaces halfway through the job and no work has to be redone.
Something wrong with a Wittersham roof? Describe it here.
We survey first and write one total price afterwards.