Roofers in Dunkirk
22.4 road miles from Margate. Tile, slate, lead and chimney work for Dunkirk homes, with the listed school, church and wartime radar site noted on the record before any roof is priced.
- Swale planningPlanning with Swale Borough Council, building control with STG.
- Hernhill group nearbyNearest conservation areas: the Hernhill group.
- Listed radar towerGrade II school, church and radar tower.
A listed school, a wartime radar site and Hernhill's boundaries nearby
School listing
Dunkirk Primary School was first listed Grade II on 21 May 1986, alongside Christ Church from 1967.
Radar station
The wartime Chain Home station near Christ Church is a scheduled monument, with a consent system of its own.
Hernhill nearby
The nearest conservation areas are the Hernhill ones, within about 2.5 km, and Swale confirms any single address.
Dunkirk and the Hernhill edge
Dunkirk's record for a roof survey, in figures
| Council | Swale Borough Council |
|---|---|
| Building control | STG Building Control Partnership |
| Scaffold and skip licences | Kent County Council |
| Population, 2021 | 1,302 (Dunkirk parish) |
| From Margate | 22.4 road miles, about 30 min |
| Listed entries within 500 m | 5, National Heritage List |
| Scheduled monument | Chain Home radar station, entry 1020388 |
| Nearest conservation areas | Hernhill, within about 2.5 km |
Dunkirk has 1,302 residents and a short heritage list with an unusual shape: a school, a church and a radar tower, all Grade II, plus a wartime radar station protected as a scheduled monument.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, Swale Borough Council, Kent County Council, OSRM road routing.
Dunkirk, radar to roof
Dunkirk roofs, from the listed school and radar site to a licence for the scaffold
Three chapters on the listed entries and the scheduled radar station, where the nearest conservation areas end and Swale's route begins, and the permits behind a job.
Chapter 01 of 03
Christ Church, the school and Dunkirk's radar station
Dunkirk lies 22.4 road miles west of Margate, about 30 minutes by car, and 1,302 residents were counted in the parish in 2021. Historic England's register has just 5 listed entries within 500 metres of the village centre, and they are an unusual set: Christ Church, first listed on 24 January 1967; Dunkirk Primary School, first listed on 21 May 1986; and Dunkirk Radar Tower, first listed on 12 September 2002. All three are Grade II. A wartime radar station nearby is a scheduled monument, a different kind of entry again.
Listed building consent follows section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and it attaches to the listed structure, with its roof, rather than to the lane around it. A Grade II school roof and a Grade II church roof are therefore consent questions, decided by Swale Borough Council unless a denominational system applies. A change that alters how a listed roof looks, such as a different slate or a reshaped ridge, plainly tests the character rule, while a patch in matching material is the council's judgement call, so we ask rather than assume. Houses that stand near these buildings are not listed because of them, and your own address on the register is the test we apply before anything else.
The scheduled monument is a World War II Chain Home radar station, 200 metres north east of Christ Church (entry 1020388). Scheduled monuments sit under their own law: works to one need scheduled monument consent, and carrying them out without authority is an offence under section 2 of the monuments legislation of 1979. That is a different consent from listed building consent, and it is aimed at the monument, not at the houses around it.
Christ Church needs a careful first step. The register names it but does not say which denomination worships there, so we cannot tell you whether the faculty system, another denominational system or listed building consent applies until we have asked who uses and owns the building. For the houses of Dunkirk we then move to the practical work: our pitched roofing and roof inspections pages describe how a survey and its photographs run.
| Entry | Status | First listed |
|---|---|---|
| Christ Church | Grade II | 24 January 1967 |
| Dunkirk Primary School | Grade II | 21 May 1986 |
| Dunkirk Radar Tower | Grade II | 12 September 2002 |
| Chain Home radar station | Scheduled monument | Entry 1020388 |
Source: Historic England, National Heritage List for England
Chapter 02 of 03
Where the nearest conservation areas stop and Swale's route starts
The nearest conservation areas to Dunkirk lie within about 2.5 kilometres, Hernhill - Dargate, Hernhill - Fostall and Hernhill itself, and Swale Borough Council settles whether any line reaches a given house. Distance from the middle of a village settles nothing for one street, and Swale Borough Council, which counts 51 designated conservation areas across the borough, holds the boundaries. Send us your address and we confirm it with the council before pricing. A conservation area is article 2(3) land under the General Permitted Development Order, and our roof window planning guide deals with the changes it brings to windows and additions, so the conditions stay there.
Swale and STG
Dunkirk is a Swale Borough Council address, and building control for Swale is delivered by STG, the partnership that also serves Canterbury, Gravesham and Medway. STG's number is 01634 331133. STG publishes no re-roofing percentage, which leaves the Planning Portal's test as the working guide: where less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof is affected, an application is not normally needed. Approval is also needed when the new covering adds 15 per cent or more to the roof covering's weight, however small the area.
Councils in Kent word these rules differently, so Swale's pages and STG's are the only ones that count for Dunkirk, whatever a neighbouring district says. Heavier coverings deserve an engineer's or surveyor's early opinion, and we flag that on the survey sheet whenever the proposed covering weighs more than the one coming off. Whatever the covering, BS 5534 is the basis for calculating its fixings at that address.
Swale's article 4 page lists a Faversham direction on front roof coverings facing a public highway, which has no standing in Dunkirk, and a borough-wide direction made on 21 July 2026 on another subject, not roofs. Chimney work brings its own rules into play: removing a chimney breast always needs Building Regulations approval, and where it sits on a party wall the neighbour is owed two months' notice, with disputes going to a party wall surveyor rather than to building control. For Dunkirk we put the question to Swale and relay what it says.
Chapter 03 of 03
Permits, skips and Manston averages for a Dunkirk job
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 prohibits erecting or keeping on a highway any scaffolding or other structure that obstructs it, unless there is a licence. Kent County Council issues the licence in Dunkirk, and the fee for a permit covering 7 calendar days is £52 per week in 2026 to 2027. Applications, renewals too, must be with the council 5 working days before the permit begins. The scaffolder lodges the application with Kent County Council and we agree dates with them once the full notice period is in hand. The council also asks the applicant to meet its public liability requirement, charges £78 where a site inspection is judged necessary, and requires a 1.2 metre walk-around between the scaffold and the carriageway, and uprights painted white for the lowest 2.5 metres.
Skips come under section 139 of the same Act, and Kent County Council's skip permit costs £45 per week for 2026 to 2027. The council asks for 5 working days' notice before a skip goes out, and 3 days' notice to renew, so a job that overruns does not leave a skip standing unpermitted. A skip must not exceed 5 metres in length or 2 metres in width. Footway positions are the exception, needing express permission and a pedestrian walkway 1.5 metres wide, so we settle where the skip can go before dates are booked, and the stripped covering goes away with the crew.
The weather record we use is the Met Office's, and it covers a station elsewhere in Kent, not Dunkirk. Met Office averages for Manston, 1991 to 2020, give a mean wind speed at 10 metres of 9.86 knots, and 11.21 knots in January. Marley points out that BS 5534 contains wind uplift formulas and a means of calculating fixing specifications, which is why we calculate fixings for the site in front of us instead of borrowing a pattern from another job.
That calculation is also why BS 5534 matters on a repair. It is a code of practice, not the law, and Marley says as much, and it says the 2015 amendments ended mortar's standing as the only fixing. The pairs below set out two points that are easy to mix up.
Myth
BS 5534 is a legal requirement for every roof covering.FactMarley notes that installing to BS 5534 isn't required by law; it is the code of practice fixings are calculated against.
Myth
Bedding in mortar alone is still enough to hold ridge tiles on.FactMarley says the 2015 amendments made clear mortar could no longer be relied upon as the only means of securing a roof covering.
Source: Marley, BS 5534 fixing requirements
10-Year workmanship guarantee. In writing
Around Dunkirk
Dunkirk and the Swale villages along its road
Dunkirk and Boughton under Blean are both Swale Borough Council addresses with STG for building control and Kent County Council for highways, so a roof in either village follows the same set of contacts, with the Planning Portal test as the yardstick for both.
Dunkirk school, radar station and borough-line questions
Does Dunkirk Primary School's Grade II listing affect the houses around it?
No. Listed building consent attaches to the listed building, and section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 concerns works affecting its character. A house beside the school stays unlisted unless it has an entry of its own, however close the two stand. We look at the register for your own address and tell you whether Swale Borough Council needs to be asked.
Does the wartime radar station at Dunkirk change anything for a house roof?
It is a scheduled monument, entry 1020388, about 200 metres north east of Christ Church, and scheduled monument consent applies to works on the monument itself. A neighbouring house does not become a scheduled monument by standing near one. If your property includes any part of it, say so at the start and we raise it with the right body before a survey.
Is my Dunkirk house in a conservation area if Hernhill's are the nearest?
The national dataset places the nearest ones, the Hernhill group, within about 2.5 km. A dataset search is not a ruling on one address. Swale Borough Council holds the boundaries, so we check your address with it and tell you the result before work is priced.
How heavy can a new covering be on a Dunkirk house before approval is needed?
The Planning Portal puts approval at a covering that increases the weight by 15 per cent or more, and Approved Document A speaks of loading increased by more than 15%. Any change to a heavier covering is the case to watch, and a house with an older frame is where the opinion matters most. We raise it early and suggest a structural engineer or surveyor look, as the Planning Portal advises.
Does Swale's July 2026 borough-wide direction apply to Dunkirk roofs?
Swale's article 4 page records a borough-wide direction made on 21 July 2026, but it concerns houses in multiple occupation and not roofs. The roof-covering direction it lists is for Faversham. For Dunkirk we put the question to Swale Borough Council itself and report its answer back to you in writing, together with the survey photographs, so you can see what was asked.
Dunkirk roof pictures, then a survey
Send pictures of the Dunkirk roof, or book a look at it; one written total price follows once we have been up there.