Roofers in Blean
19.6 road miles from Margate. Tile, slate and lead repairs for Blean houses, farmhouses and cottages, with each slope inspected and the pictures sent to you before a price is worked out.
- Canterbury decidesCanterbury City Council decides planning and listing in Blean.
- Two conservation areasTwo conservation areas: Amery Court and Blean.
- STG building controlSTG Building Control, Rochester, 01634 331133.
A farmhouse, a lodge and eight Article 4 entries
The farmhouse
Badgers Farmhouse has been Grade II listed since 27 January 1984, so a roof job there starts with the list entry.
Yew Lodge
Yew Lodge was first listed Grade II on 14 March 1980, so its roof falls under the same consent rules.
School Lane
Canterbury's Article 4 dataset names School Lane, Blean Hill and Chapel Lane among its eight entries around the village.
Blean parish, west of Margate
What Blean's entries mean at survey stage
| Council | Canterbury City Council |
|---|---|
| Building control | STG Building Control Partnership |
| Scaffold and skip licences | Kent County Council |
| Conservation area | Amery Court (Blean); Blean |
| Population, 2021 | 1,630 (Blean parish) |
| From Margate | 19.6 road miles, about 28 min |
| Population, Blean parish, 2021 Census | 1,630 |
| Grade II, first listed 27 January 1984 | Badgers Farmhouse |
| Grade II, first listed 14 March 1980 | Yew Lodge |
| Article 4 entries in Canterbury's dataset | 8 around the village |
Blean falls to Canterbury City Council for planning and the STG partnership for building control. Only two listed entries fall within 500 metres of the centre, so a survey here starts by checking whether your address is one of them.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, Canterbury City Council, Kent County Council, OSRM road routing.
Blean, farmhouse to flue
Blean roofs, from the listed farmhouse and lodge to the Article 4 entries and the shared chimney wall
Three chapters on the two listed houses, the two conservation areas with their Article 4 entries, and the neighbours, licences and frost records behind a Blean job.
Chapter 01 of 03
Badgers Farmhouse, Yew Lodge and the listed roofs
Blean lies 19.6 road miles west of Margate and takes about 28 minutes to reach by car. On Historic England's list, two houses in the village are Grade II: Badgers Farmhouse, first listed on 27 January 1984, and Yew Lodge, first listed on 14 March 1980. Between them they set the pattern for listed work here, because the farmhouse and the lodge ask the same question of a roofer, which is how much of the old roof can stay. Where a farmhouse roof has several valleys, junctions and chimneys, each one adds to the surfaces that need checking before any plan is made.
Listing applies to the whole building, so the roof is inside it. Under section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, any work that would affect the character of a listed building needs listed building consent, and Canterbury City Council decides. In practice the sensitive parts of a roof are its slope and covering, the ridge (the line at the top where the slopes meet), the stacks that carry the chimneys, and the lead flashings (the metal edging that keeps rain out where a roof meets a wall). A change to a different covering material is the kind of work the council weighs against that test.
Whether a given repair touches character is a judgement, and the judgement belongs to the council, not to the roofer. We do the groundwork so that the question is a simple one: pictures of each slope, a note of what has failed, and a description of the repair that uses the old material. A handful of slipped or cracked units mended in kind is a far smaller matter than a full re-cover, and where a repair will serve, that is what you are told.
Both are houses, so no church system comes into it, and the route is the council's. Anyone with a listed barn, an outbuilding or a converted farm building should also ask whether it falls inside the listing, since an entry can cover buildings that look separate, and the answer decides whether a roof there needs consent. We would rather ask that before the first tile comes off than after, because undoing finished work is far harder than waiting a few days for an answer. Our slate roofing and pitched roofing pages cover the main materials we match.
Chapter 02 of 03
Amery Court, the Blean area and eight Article 4 entries
Planning data places 2 conservation areas within about 0.75 km of the centre of Blean: Amery Court (Blean) and Blean itself. Canterbury City Council counts 97 conservation areas across its district, so a Blean address can sit in either of these, on a line between them, or outside both. Conservation areas rank as article 2(3) land, where the dormer class stops being permitted development; our roof window planning guide deals with roof windows and additions in full.
Canterbury also publishes an Article 4 map. Its dataset has 8 entries around Blean, and they name 40, 42 and 44 School Lane, 16 School Lane, 17 and 36 Blean Hill, and 57 Chapel Lane. An eighth is a wide-area direction for Canterbury and its surroundings. An Article 4 direction withdraws specified permitted development rights across a defined area. Each notice sets out what its own direction withdraws, so a Blean address goes to the council with that question before any work is planned.
Myth
A house in a conservation area always has an Article 4 direction too.FactThe two are separate. A direction is a notice for a defined area, and your address can meet one, both or neither.
Myth
Blean's Article 4 entries are all on the one street.FactCanterbury's dataset names School Lane, Blean Hill and Chapel Lane, plus one wide-area entry.
Source: Canterbury City Council Article 4 dataset; planning.data.gov.uk
A conservation area and an Article 4 entry are easy to confuse. A house can lie in a conservation area with no direction on it, or have a direction while sitting just outside the area line, and neither tells you about the other. Both are checked separately against the full postal address, and the council's written answer goes in the job file before any outward change is priced. Until that written answer is in, no change to how the roof looks from School Lane, Blean Hill or Chapel Lane is planned or priced.
The 2021 Census counted 1,630 usual residents in Blean parish. In a parish of that size a scaffold on one house is soon noticed along the lane. That is one more reason the paperwork is settled before the poles go up, not after a neighbour asks what is happening. We also tell the houses next door which days the scaffold arrives and leaves, which cuts down on the questions and on the surprises, and the lane is kept clear of tools and old tiles at the end of every day, so Blean neighbours can still get their cars past the house in the evening or at the weekend.
Chapter 03 of 03
Shared chimney walls, scaffold, and the Manston frost record
Where two houses share a chimney wall, taking out a breast on one side is the Party Wall Act's business. Section 2(2)(g) gives the right to cut away a projecting chimney breast, section 3 requires notice two months or more before work begins, and section 3(3)(a) lets neighbours consent in writing instead. A party wall surveyor settles any disagreement, not building control. Building Regulations approval is a separate matter, because removing a chimney breast alters the structure, and the STG Building Control Partnership handles it from Rochester on 01634 331133.
Construction law has a point for homeowners too. Under regulation 7(1) of the CDM Regulations 2015, a domestic client's duties pass to the contractor where only one contractor is working. So on a single-contractor re-roof, the contractor holds those duties and draws up the construction phase plan under regulation 15(5). The householder is not left to manage site safety alone, and that is worth asking any roofer about before a start date is agreed. Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 places on every employer a duty to take steps, so far as reasonably practicable, against a fall liable to injure.
Kent County Council issues scaffold licences under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and on its page the scaffolding company submits the application on your behalf. The fee for 2026 to 2027 is £52 per week, with 5 working days' notice, and a skip permit is £45 per week. Highways questions go to Kent County Council on 03000 41 81 81. Booking both early matters on a lane where parking is tight, because a skip without a permit risks an inspection fee and a retrospective charge from the county.
The Met Office record we quote is for Manston in Thanet, 1991 to 2020, which averages 21.43 days of air frost in a year and about 613 mm of rain. Those are Manston's figures, not Blean's own. Frost opens up small gaps in mortar, flashings and cracked units, and rain then finds them, so a Blean survey looks at joints and gutters as well as the covering. The table below lists who to ring about what.
| Question | Contact |
|---|---|
| Scaffold or skip | Kent County Council, 03000 41 81 81 |
| Building control | STG, 01634 331133 |
| Planning, listing | Canterbury City Council |
| Party wall dispute | A party wall surveyor |
Source: Kent County Council; STG Building Control; Canterbury City Council
10-Year workmanship guarantee. In writing
Around Blean
Blean among its Canterbury neighbours
Blean shares Canterbury City Council, the STG partnership and Kent County Council's licences with Harbledown, Barham and Whitstable, so a job in one of them goes through the same offices as a job in Blean.
Blean's listings, directions and shared walls
Can a Blean cottage listed like Yew Lodge have its roof repaired without consent?
It depends on whether the repair affects the building's character. Consent is required for works that do, under section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and Canterbury City Council decides. A small repair in matching material is a different case from a change of covering. We send you pictures and describe the repair so the council can judge it.
Do the School Lane and Blean Hill Article 4 entries cover my roof?
Canterbury City Council's dataset has 8 entries around Blean, naming School Lane, Blean Hill and Chapel Lane addresses, plus a wide-area direction for Canterbury and the land around it. What each entry withdraws is written in its own notice. Canterbury City Council can confirm your address in writing, and we wait for that reply.
Which of Blean's two conservation areas is my house in?
Planning data places Amery Court (Blean) and Blean within about 0.75 km of the village centre, but boundaries are drawn by Canterbury City Council, not by distance. Your address may be in one, on a line, or in neither. Canterbury City Council's map settles it, and we check the map at the survey before any outward change is priced.
Who tells the neighbour when a chimney breast comes out of a shared Blean wall?
The owner having the work done gives notice under the Party Wall Act, at least two months before it begins, unless the neighbour consents in writing. A party wall surveyor deals with any dispute. Building Regulations approval is separate and goes to the STG Building Control Partnership, because removing a breast changes the structure.
Who carries the construction safety duties on a Blean re-roof I commission?
On a domestic job with one contractor, regulation 7(1) of the CDM Regulations 2015 passes the domestic client's duties to that contractor, who draws up the construction phase plan. Where more than one contractor works, the duties pass to the principal contractor. Work at height rules also place the duty to prevent falls on the employer.
Get the Blean roof looked at
Send pictures of the roof in Blean, or ask us for a visit, and one written price follows the survey.