Roofers in Alkham
21.8 road miles from Margate. Repairs, re-roofs, chimneys and leadwork for Alkham homes in the Kent Downs, with the listed buildings and the village boundary looked up before any figure is written.
- Dover inspectsBuilding control by Dover District Council itself.
- Alkham conservation areaAlkham conservation area, within 0.75 km of the centre.
- Kent Downs landKent Downs National Landscape setting.
A Grade I church, a Downs setting and a council re-roofing rule
Church in use
St Anthony the Martyr, listed 1962, is a working Church of England church; its roof follows the faculty system.
Downs landscape
Alkham sits inside the Kent Downs National Landscape, formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Dover's rule
Alkham is in Dover District, so that council's approval line for replacement roof coverings applies to a house here.
Alkham village and the Downs around it
Alkham's record before any roof is priced
| Council | Dover District Council |
|---|---|
| Building control | Dover District Council's own building control team |
| Scaffold and skip licences | Kent County Council |
| Conservation area | Alkham |
| Population, 2021 | 708 (Alkham parish) |
| From Margate | 21.8 road miles, about 33 min |
| Listed entries within 500 m | 20, National Heritage List |
| Grade II, first listed 28 May 1987 | Forstal Cottage, Marquis of Granby |
| Landscape designation | Kent Downs National Landscape |
Alkham is small, with 708 residents in 2021, but its record is full: a Grade I church, two Grade II buildings listed in 1987, a conservation area and a centre lying inside the Kent Downs National Landscape.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, Dover District Council, Kent County Council, OSRM road routing.
Alkham, church to kerbside
Alkham roofs, from the Grade I church to the licence for a scaffold in the lane
Three chapters on the listed buildings round the church, the landscape and boundary that shape planning, and the licences and records behind an Alkham job.
Chapter 01 of 03
St Anthony the Martyr and the listed buildings around it
Alkham is a Kent Downs village 21.8 road miles south of Margate, about 33 minutes by car, with 708 residents at the 2021 Census. It is small enough for its heritage record to be taken in at a glance. Historic England's register has 20 listed entries within 500 metres of the centre point, and the Alkham conservation area lies within about 0.75 kilometres of it. A roof survey here starts with those two records before it touches a tile.
The Church of St Anthony the Martyr is Grade I, first listed on 22 August 1962, and it is an active Church of England place of worship. That matters for the paperwork. Under the ecclesiastical exemption, works to an exempt church that is in use go through the Church of England's faculty system, and listed building consent does not apply to it. If you look after the church, the faculty system is the route for its roof. If you live beside it, the church's status says nothing about your own house. A cathedral has its own route under the Care of Cathedrals Measure, Methodist, Baptist, URC and Roman Catholic buildings run their own systems, and Quaker or Unitarian buildings take listed building consent, but none of those exemptions reaches a private house.
Two Grade II entries show the other kind of listing. Forstal Cottage and the Marquis of Granby were both first listed on 28 May 1987. For a listed house or any other listed building, section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 asks for listed building consent for works affecting its character, and the roof is a large part of that character: the covering, the ridge (the line along the very top of the roof), the verges (the edges of a roof at a gable end), the stacks and the flashings (shaped metal strips that close the joins). The decision sits with Dover District Council, which is also the planning authority for Alkham.
When a listed roof needs work, we match the existing covering and details unless the council agrees a change. Matching means the same covering pattern, the same ridge treatment, the same lead detailing at the stack and mortar mixed to suit old masonry, and the application describes exactly that. We send photographs of each slope and stack before any figure is written down. Our chimney repairs and lead roofing pages cover the stacks and flashings on an older roof in more detail.
Chapter 02 of 03
Kent Downs, Dover's re-roofing line and the village boundary
The national planning dataset places Alkham inside the Kent Downs National Landscape, the designation that replaced the name Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. An area of outstanding natural beauty is article 2(3) land under the General Permitted Development Order, as a conservation area is, and both take away some householder rights. Our roof window planning guide sets out what that changes for windows and additions, and the conditions are kept there in full.
The Alkham conservation area is a second layer. Dover District Council counts 57 conservation areas across its district and holds the boundary map for each, so for an Alkham address the council's own map has the final word. Dover District Council's conservation page adds that some normally permitted works need permission inside a conservation area, building roof dormers among them.
| Question | Decided by |
|---|---|
| Planning and listed building consent | Dover District Council |
| Building control | Dover District Council's own team |
| Scaffold licence and skip permit | Kent County Council |
| Roof of St Anthony the Martyr | Church of England faculty system |
Source: Dover District Council; Kent County Council; Historic England
Dover's approval line
Alkham is a Dover District address, and Dover District Council's building control page counts a replacement roof covering as work needing approval even when it matches the old one. That wording belongs to Dover and is not a national rule. The Planning Portal's own test treats a re-roof touching less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof as not normally needing an application, and a new covering that raises the roof covering's weight by 15 per cent or more as needing approval. For Alkham we follow the stricter Dover wording and confirm the route with the council's building control team before work is planned. One more boundary applies to converted houses. The Order's definition of a dwellinghouse leaves out a building containing flats, or a flat within one, so householder permitted development does not reach them. That is why a house split into flats in Alkham needs planning permission for roof changes that alter its outside appearance, and why we ask the freeholder or managing agent who holds the roof before a survey is booked.
The council's conservation page also says that article 4 directions can reach roof alterations on parts of a house facing a street, waterway or public open ground. We ask Dover District Council whether a direction applies to your address, and we pass on its answer with the survey photographs.
Chapter 03 of 03
A scaffold licence, a skip permit and a weather record
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 bars anyone from putting up or keeping scaffolding that obstructs a highway without a licence. In Alkham the licence comes from Kent County Council, the highway authority, and its guidance says the scaffolding company responsible for the structure should make the application. A permit covers 7 calendar days at £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, the council wants 5 working days' notice, renewals included, and the applicant must meet its public liability requirement. A site inspection, when the council thinks one necessary, is charged at £78. Its conditions also keep the scaffold at least 1.2 metres from the carriageway, with uprights painted white for the lowest 2.5 metres, and lighting at night when the structure stands in or within 45 centimetres of the carriageway.
Skips have a permit of their own under section 139 of the same Act, at £45 per week for 2026 to 2027. Kent County Council asks for 5 working days before a skip is placed and 3 days' notice for a renewal, and a skip may not exceed 5 metres in length or 2 metres in width. A skip put out without a permit draws an inspection fee of £120 on top of a retrospective permit fee of £45. We plan the waste collection round these rules, so a lane that carries other traffic is blocked for as short a time as the job allows.
On weather, the Met Office keeps long-term averages for Manston, a station in Thanet, over the years 1991 to 2020, and they give about 613 mm of rain a year, 110.05 days with 1 mm or more of rain and 21.43 days of air frost. They describe Manston, not Alkham, and they say nothing about how any one roof will behave.
What they do give is a sense of the load a covering sees across a year of rain and frost. Slates, tiles and their fixings are chosen and nailed with BS 5534 in mind, and each site's exposure sets the fixings. The four steps below show how an Alkham job runs from the first photographs through to a clear lane on the final day.
An Alkham re-roof, in order
Look and photograph
We view every slope and stack, and send you the pictures.
Check the records
Listing, boundary and Dover's building control route, confirmed for your address.
Licence and permit
The scaffolder applies to Kent County Council; the skip permit follows.
Work, then clear
Fixings set for the site, a daily update, and nothing left in the lane.
10-Year workmanship guarantee. In writing
Around Alkham
Dover District Council neighbours of Alkham
Alkham shares Dover District Council, its building control team and its re-roofing wording with Dover and Whitfield; across the district boundary, other councils word their rules differently, so the address decides the route.
Alkham's church, landscape and council questions
Who decides roof work on Alkham's Grade I church?
St Anthony the Martyr is a working Church of England place of worship, so works to it go through the Church of England's faculty system rather than listed building consent. That exemption belongs to the church and similar exempt buildings in use. A house next to it, even a listed one, still needs listed building consent from Dover District Council for work that affects its character.
Does living in the Kent Downs change what an Alkham house roof can have?
It can. The Kent Downs National Landscape is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and that counts as article 2(3) land, which removes some permitted development rights. A plain re-covering is a different question from a roof window or a dormer. Our roof window planning guide covers the conditions, and we confirm your address with Dover District Council.
Will Dover District Council want an application for replacing a few Alkham tiles?
Its building control page lists replacement of roof coverings, like for like included, among work needing approval. Whether a small repair counts as replacing the covering is the council's call, not ours. We put the question to the building control team with photographs and tell you the answer before any work is booked, so you are never guessing.
Which parts of Alkham fall inside the conservation area?
The national dataset shows the Alkham conservation area within about 0.75 km of the village centre, but the exact line is held by Dover District Council. Send your address and we check it against the council's map. The answer matters because conservation areas are article 2(3) land and some normally permitted works then need permission.
Who applies to Kent County Council for an Alkham scaffold, and how soon?
The scaffolding company applies, because Kent County Council says the firm placing the structure on the highway should submit the application. It needs the application in 5 working days before the licence starts, and the fee is £52 per week for 2026 to 2027. Kent County Council highways take questions before applying on 03000 41 81 81.
Photographs of your Alkham roof first
Send a photograph of the Alkham roof or book a visit; one written total follows the survey.