Two different permissions get muddled when people ask about roof work. Planning permission concerns the way a building looks and the use it is put to. Building Regulations approval is about whether the work is safe, weatherproof and energy efficient. A roof may need either, both or neither, and the answer depends on what exactly is being done and where.
For a house, the starting position is friendly. Laying the same covering again, like for like, is not development, and the General Permitted Development Order lets a householder alter a roof within set limits without applying. The exceptions are where trouble starts: dormers, designated land, listed buildings, flats and areas covered by an Article 4 direction. This guide walks through the planning questions first, then the Building Regulations test, then who decides in your part of Somerset. It is general information and not legal advice, so ask the planning team or building control body about your own address. Our work across the area is set out on the homepage.
When a re-roof is not development
The 1990 Planning Act carves out works that do not materially affect a building's external appearance. They are not development, and planning permission is only ever needed for development, so such works need no application at all. That carve-out sits in section 55(2) of the Act, and it is the reason a plain re-roof usually never reaches the council.
It also explains why the question is never simply how big the job is. A tiny change that shows from the road can matter more than a large one nobody sees.
What counts as like for like?
The test is what the street sees. If the roof looks the same afterwards, the work is probably outside planning control. Relaying natural slate with natural slate of similar size and colour fits, as does replacing clay pantiles with clay pantiles. A visibly different material, a changed pitch or something new standing up from the roof does not fit, because the look has altered.
The test turns on appearance, whatever share of the roof is being renewed. A full strip and relay of one covering can be like for like, while a small patch in a clashing material may not be. Where you are unsure, a short written question to the planning team is cheaper than an enforcement letter later.
Is a repair the same as a re-roof?
Replacing a few slipped tiles or a failed ridge sits well inside the same idea, since the roof looks the same once the repair is done. Our roof work regulations guide sets the same jobs against the Building Regulations.
Planning permission is about how a building looks. Building Regulations approval is about how it performs. Roof work gets assessed under each rule separately.
Class C: re-roofing and roof windows
Where a change does show, Class C of the Order is the next place to look. This is the permitted development class for roof alterations to a house that are not enlargements, and a new covering falls within it. A change of covering on a house is therefore normally permitted development.
What limits does Class C set?
The first limit is projection. If the alteration would project over 0.15 metres past the original roof plane, measured at right angles to its surface, the work leaves permitted development. A slim roof window fitted flush to the slope falls well inside that figure. In practice that governs how far a roof window can stand proud of the slope.
The second limit is a condition on side-facing slopes. Any window set into a roof slope that faces the side of the house has to be fitted with obscured glass. It must also be fixed shut, except where the parts that open sit higher than 1.7 metres over the floor of the room. The obscured glass is required in every case, and the 1.7 metre figure relaxes only the fixed-shut part.
Does Class C reach roof windows in a protected area?
Class C has no exclusion for article 2(3) land, so a roof window inside its limits stays permitted development in a conservation area, a National Park or a National Landscape, unless an Article 4 direction or a condition has removed the right. Roof windows also carry Part L energy requirements, covered below under Building Regulations. A roofer will normally weatherproof such a window with a flashing kit matched to the covering, and the surrounding slates or tiles are cut and relaid to fit it.
Dormers and article 2(3) land
A dormer is a box-like projection, roofed separately, that rises out of the main slope and gives a loft room headroom and an upright window. Because it changes the shape of the roof, it comes under Class B, which deals with additions and enlargements.
How big can a dormer be under permitted development?
Class B allows extra roof volume of up to 40 cubic metres for a terrace house and 50 cubic metres for any other house. Nothing may push out past a main-front slope that looks onto the road. A street-facing slope is therefore unavailable for a permitted dormer, whatever the volume, and a rear slope is where most permitted dormers go.
Where is a dormer never permitted development?
Class B does not apply when the house stands on article 2(3) land. The phrase takes in a conservation area, an area of outstanding natural beauty and a National Park. Those beauty areas became National Landscapes in November 2023, although the Order keeps its old wording and the rename left the law unchanged. The result is no permitted-development dormers in a conservation area, in Exmoor, or in the Quantock Hills, Blackdown Hills or Mendip Hills National Landscapes.
Our Taunton conservation areas guide lists the designations on the council's table. If your house is in one, a dormer calls for an application, whereas a roof window kept within Class C limits is the easier way to bring in daylight.
Listed houses and flats
Two kinds of home sit outside the usual householder rules, for opposite reasons.
Does a listed house keep its permitted development?
Yes, which surprises people. Neither Class B nor Class C excludes listed buildings, so a listed house keeps both. Listed building consent is a separate requirement that sits on top of them. It is triggered by any work that would alter the building's character, and carrying out such work without authority is an offence under section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
In practice, a new covering, a roof window, a different ridge or a rebuilt chimney can each change character. The council or, inside Exmoor, the Park Authority can say whether consent is needed. Our Exmoor roof planning answer covers the Park.
Why don't flats have householder permitted development?
The Order uses the word dwellinghouse and defines it to exclude any building containing flats, and any single flat within one. Householder rights under Classes B and C therefore stop at the door of a flat or a block of flats. A flat owner, or the freeholder of a block, should take the question to the planning team before taking a roof alteration for granted. The same goes for a house that has been converted into flats, where the answer follows the building as it now stands.
Churches, chapels and scheduled monuments have consent routes of their own. If the building is in either group, start with a question to the right body before you book a scaffold, and keep the answer with your quote.
Building Regulations: the separate test
Planning answers whether you may change how a roof looks. The Building Regulations answer whether the new work is safe and efficient. They are the second gate for most re-roofs, and the one people forget.
Which re-roofs need building control sign-off?
The Planning Portal gives a two-part test. Building control approval is normally unnecessary where less than 25 per cent of the building envelope is affected and less than 50 per cent of the roof is involved. Here the envelope is the whole outer shell of the house, with the roof as one part of it. Sign-off is required where the replacement covering weighs at least 15 per cent more than the old one, or would perform significantly differently in a fire. A structural engineer or surveyor can check the weight before anything is ordered. Because Somerset Building Control gives no re-roofing percentage itself, the national tests above are the ones to follow.
Do planning and building control differ for a loft or flat roof?
They can. Under Part L, a replacement waterproof layer over a flat roof is renovation. A roof window must reach a U-value of 1.4 or Window Energy Rating Band B, and for a rooflight the figure is 2.2. Renovation and loft conversions use a 0.35 threshold in Table 4.3, upgraded to 0.16 where that is technically feasible.
Somerset Building Control covers Taunton and the other former districts, and its number is 0300 303 7790. Ask any roofer who notifies building control and which certificate you receive at the end, and expect a plain answer.
Article 4 and who decides where you live
Even where Class B or Class C would normally apply, an Article 4 direction can take the right away. A local planning authority makes it, and it withdraws named rights across a defined area. Work that would otherwise go ahead may then need an application.
Is there an Article 4 direction on my road?
Somerset Council's list gives the confirmation date for each direction, including Taunton, Staplegrove Road (1977) and Wellington (1977). A listing shows that a direction exists but says nothing about what it removes, so the right move is to ask the planning team. Give the address and the exact work, and keep the answer in writing.
Which council decides?
It depends on the address. In Taunton and elsewhere in Somerset, Somerset Council's planning team decides. Inside Exmoor National Park, Exmoor National Park Authority alone handles planning for the Park area, and listed building matters there go to it as well. Over the county line, Devon addresses sit under the district council in question, and the North Somerset edge is under North Somerset Council.
None of that alters the Building Regulations picture, which follows the building control body for the address. Because the answers differ by address, the survey records the exact location, the covering and the planned work first. That record also makes it easier for the planning team to answer in one reply, since they can see the slope, the material and the photos. The price in writing follows the survey, with the planning question sitting alongside it.
Permission for roof work in plain terms
Can I replace my roof tiles without telling the council?
For a house, a re-roof in matching material is not development, and Class C normally takes care of the other roof alterations. You may still need Building Regulations approval, for instance if the new covering is 15 per cent or more heavier. A listed house, a flat or an Article 4 area changes the answer.
Is a Velux in the front slope a planning matter?
Under Class C a roof window usually is not, provided it stands no more than 0.15 metres proud of the slope and any side-slope window is obscure-glazed. Listed houses still need consent because of their character, and an Article 4 direction can take the right away, so confirm your address with the planning team first.
Who do I ask if my house is inside Exmoor National Park?
Exmoor National Park Authority, which alone handles planning for the Park. It also handles listed building matters there. Somerset Council deals with planning elsewhere in Somerset, including Taunton, so the address decides which team gets your question. File the written reply next to your quote.
More on this subject: Roofers in Taunton
