Roofers in Boughton under Blean
22.2 road miles from Margate. Slate, tile, lead and chimney work for Boughton under Blean homes, with the listed buildings along the village street and the two conservation areas looked up before pricing.
- Two protected areasStaplestreet and Boughton Street conservation areas.
- Inspected by STGBuilding control through the STG partnership.
- Swale planningSwale Borough Council decides Boughton's planning applications.
Listed chapel, Grade II* Style House and two conservation areas
Chapel listing
The Methodist Chapel was first listed Grade II on 16 March 1977, so its roof work raises a consent question.
Style House
Grade II*, first listed 27 August 1952, and one of 50 listed entries within 500 m of the village centre.
Two boundaries
Staplestreet and Boughton Street conservation areas both lie within about 0.75 km of the village centre.
Boughton Street and Staplestreet
Boughton's listed and conserved streets, in figures
| Council | Swale Borough Council |
|---|---|
| Building control | STG Building Control Partnership |
| Scaffold and skip licences | Kent County Council |
| Conservation area | Staplestreet; Boughton - Boughton Street |
| Population, 2021 | 1,927 (Boughton under Blean parish) |
| From Margate | 22.2 road miles, about 29 min |
| Listed entries within 500 m | 50, National Heritage List |
| Conservation areas within 0.75 km | 2: Staplestreet; Boughton Street |
| Grade II*, first listed 1952 | Style House |
Boughton under Blean is a village of 1,927 residents with a dense heritage record: 50 listed entries close to the centre, two conservation areas, and a Swale Borough Council planning route that differs from Canterbury's next door.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, Swale Borough Council, Kent County Council, OSRM road routing.
Boughton chapel to licence
Boughton roofs, from the listed chapel and Style House to the permit for a skip
Three chapters on the listed entries, the two village conservation areas and the STG building control route, and the licences and weather records behind a job here.
Chapter 01 of 03
Style House, Scarbutts and a chapel on the Boughton list
Boughton under Blean is 22.2 road miles west of Margate, about 29 minutes by car, and 1,927 people lived in the parish at the 2021 Census. Historic England's register shows 50 listed entries within 500 metres of the village centre, so every Boughton survey opens on the register. Three entries give the range: the Methodist Chapel, Grade II, first listed on 16 March 1977; Style House, Grade II*, first listed on 27 August 1952; and Scarbutts, Grade II, first listed on 24 January 1967.
Listing covers the whole of a building, roof included. Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 asks for listed building consent whenever works touch what gives the building its character. On a roof, that means the covering, the ridge, the valleys (the internal gutters between slopes), the stacks with their flaunching (the mortar bed that holds a pot in place) and the lead around them. A Grade II* entry such as Style House needs consent in the same way a Grade II one does, and a listed building does not pass its status to the houses beside it. Whether a particular repair touches that character is the council's judgement rather than ours, so for anything beyond patching we ask Swale in writing.
The chapel raises a separate question, which is who uses the building. The ecclesiastical exemption lets certain denominations manage their own listed buildings in use, and Methodist buildings are among them, so a chapel in worship use follows the Methodist Church's own system rather than listed building consent. A building that has left worship use is a different matter, and listed building consent is the route for any building outside the denominational systems. A name on the register does not say how a building is used today. We establish that before we name a route, because a wrong guess loses weeks.
Wherever consent applies, Swale Borough Council is the body that decides. We describe the work as the application will, match the existing covering, ridge and lead detail unless the council agrees a change, and photograph every slope and stack for you. Our pitched roofing and chimney repairs pages explain the work in more detail.
Myth
If the house beside mine is listed, my roof needs consent as well.FactConsent attaches to the listed building. The list entry for your own address decides, and we check it first.
Myth
A chapel roof follows the same route as a house roof.FactNot always: Methodist buildings in use follow their own denominational system, so we establish how a chapel is used first.
Source: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 s7; Historic England
Chapter 02 of 03
Two conservation areas, Swale's 51 and the STG route
Swale Borough Council counts 51 designated conservation areas across the borough, and its list includes Boughton. The national planning dataset puts two of them within about 0.75 kilometres of the village centre: Staplestreet, and Boughton, Boughton Street. A conservation area is article 2(3) land under the General Permitted Development Order, which removes some householder rights from a house inside it, and our roof window planning guide explains how that alters the rules for windows and additions. Which of the two a house falls inside, or neither, is a question for Swale's boundary map and your address.
Building control runs through STG
Boughton is a Swale address, and Swale uses the STG Building Control Partnership, which also serves Canterbury, Gravesham and Medway. STG works from its Rochester office, and its telephone number is 01634 331133. No Kent district publishes a percentage for re-roofing, so the Planning Portal's test is the guide: a re-roof that touches under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is normally outside the need for an application. A replacement covering heavier by 15 per cent or more does need approval, and the Planning Portal advises checking with a structural engineer or surveyor first. We raise weight early whenever a heavier covering is proposed, since the rafters (the sloping timbers beneath everything else) may need a structural opinion before a single slate goes on. Fixings, for their part, are calculated under BS 5534 for each site's exposure, never copied from the last job. Kent councils word these questions differently, so the first call on any job is to the right council, not the nearest.
Swale Borough Council's article 4 page lists a Faversham direction that reaches the roof coverings on house fronts facing a public road, along with doors and windows. That direction belongs to Faversham, and for a Boughton address we ask Swale whether any direction applies, then pass its reply to you with the survey pictures. A house split into flats is a further case, because householder permitted development stops at a building containing flats, and a converted house in the village needs a planning application to Swale for roof changes that alter its appearance.
Chapter 03 of 03
Scaffold licence, skip permit and weather for Boughton
A scaffold that obstructs a highway needs a licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and in Boughton that licence is Kent County Council's to grant. We arrange it with the scaffolder, and the application goes to Kent County Council. Kent County Council charges £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, expects the application 5 working days beforehand, and may charge £78 for a site inspection. It will not register an application until the applicant meets its public liability requirement. The conditions are practical ones: a gap of no less than 1.2 metres from scaffold to carriageway, uprights painted white for the lowest 2.5 metres, and night lighting when the scaffold stands in the road or within 45 centimetres of it. A scaffold permit covers 7 calendar days, so a longer job needs a renewal made with the same notice. A found infringement is charged at £120, and highways staff answer questions before you apply on 03000 41 81 81.
A skip standing on the highway is covered by section 139 of the Act and a permit of its own: £45 per week for 2026 to 2027, with 5 working days' notice and 3 days' notice for a renewal. Leave a skip on the road unpermitted and Kent County Council bills £120 for inspection plus £45 for a retrospective permit. The skip may be up to 5 metres long and 2 metres wide, and a footway skip has to leave a 1.5 metre walkway. We plan the waste around the permit dates, so old tiles, battens and underlay are away with us rather than piling up beside the house.
For weather we go to the Met Office, whose Manston averages for 1991 to 2020 give a mean annual maximum temperature of 14.42 °C, a mean minimum of 7.72 °C, 21.43 days of air frost and 1846.03 hours of sunshine. They describe the Manston station, not Boughton, and they are not a forecast for any one roof. What they do show is a working year of frost and rain, which is why the survey looks at joints and flashings as closely as at the slopes.
A table of the contacts follows for quick reference, and after it the order a Boughton job runs in. Nothing moves to a later step until the earlier one is agreed with you.
| Question | Handled by |
|---|---|
| Planning, listed building consent | Swale Borough Council |
| Building control | STG Building Control Partnership |
| Scaffold licence | Kent County Council, applied for by the scaffolder |
| Skip permit | Kent County Council |
Source: Swale Borough Council; STG; Kent County Council
10-Year workmanship guarantee. In writing
Around Boughton under Blean
Boughton and its Swale Borough neighbours
Boughton under Blean and Dunkirk both answer to Swale Borough Council for planning and to STG for building control, with Kent County Council handling highways, so one set of contacts covers a roof in either village.
Boughton chapel, boundary and building control questions
What does a Grade II* listing like Style House's mean for roof work in Boughton under Blean?
Style House was first listed Grade II* on 27 August 1952, and section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires consent for any works touching its character, the roof included. The listing belongs to that building and does not extend to its neighbours on the street. Swale Borough Council decides any application, and we check your own entry first.
Is STG or Swale in charge of building control for a Boughton house?
STG Building Control Partnership, which delivers local authority building control for Canterbury, Gravesham, Medway and Swale. Its Rochester office takes calls on 01634 331133. Planning stays with Swale Borough Council, which is a separate body. For a re-roof the Planning Portal's 25 per cent and 50 per cent test is the working guide, and we confirm the route with STG before any work is booked.
Staplestreet or Boughton Street: which conservation area is my house in?
Both lie within about 0.75 km of the village centre, and Swale Borough Council holds the boundary maps, so the council has the final word on which side of a line a house stands, and a line can run between neighbours. Send us your address and we check it before pricing. A conservation area counts as article 2(3) land, which takes away some permitted development rights for a house inside it.
Does the Methodist Chapel's listing change how a chapel roof is repaired?
It adds a consent step. The chapel was first listed Grade II on 16 March 1977. If it is in Methodist worship use, the Methodist Church's own system applies; otherwise listed building consent from Swale Borough Council is the route. Either way the repair matches the existing covering and details, and we confirm the use before naming a route.
Should I ask Swale about an article 4 direction before changing a Boughton front slope?
Yes. Swale Borough Council's article 4 page lists areas with directions, and one of them, in Faversham, takes in roof coverings on fronts that face a public road. Whether a direction reaches Boughton is something only the council can confirm, so we ask it for your address and pass on its reply with the survey photographs.
Photographs first for your Boughton roof
Pictures of the Boughton roof, or a visit, start it; one written total price comes after the survey.