Many parish churches in the Weald and along the Downs still wear their original Horsham stone. Henfield's church of St Peter is named in the council's appraisal as one of the village's stone roofs, and North Lancing's appraisal points to the north aisle of its church.
When such a roof needs work, the owner usually asks who has to approve it. For a house the answer is the local council. Where a church is open for worship, the answer is often a church body instead, because the law lets certain denominations run their own system for listed buildings in use. That system is called the ecclesiastical exemption.
The exemption has edges, and they matter. It covers some denominations and not others, it lapses on closure, and a scheduled monument is always outside it. This guide sets out the routes in plain terms, then looks at what the stone roof itself involves. It sits within our wider Horsham stone roofing service, and the approving body always has the final word.
What the ecclesiastical exemption actually does
Ordinarily, any alteration that touches the special character of a listed building needs listed building consent from the local planning authority. The law then makes an exception: the listed building controls are switched off for a church building during its working life as a place of worship. A separate Order made in 2010 spells out which denominations benefit.
The exemption is not a free pass. The government guidance that explains it says it does not remove the need for planning permission where development affects the outside of a listed place of worship, and it is not a substitute for scheduled monument consent. What it replaces is the council's listed building consent, with the church's own approval process.
Why it exists
The idea is that major denominations already run careful systems for managing change to their historic buildings, with specialist advisers, and so duplicating the council's process would add little. The guidance notes that each exempt denomination has documented procedures for managing changes to listed ecclesiastical buildings.
For a stone roof, this has a practical effect. A job that would need a council application on a listed house may need a church application instead, with different forms, different advisers and a different pace. If you are the person responsible for a church, find out which route applies before a roofer prices anything, because the approval often shapes the specification.
The exemption is also narrower than people assume. A church can be very old and very grand and still fall outside it, for reasons the next sections describe.
The Church of England and the faculty
For a parish church in Church of England use, with services held, the route runs through the faculty jurisdiction, the Church's own legal system for approving changes to its buildings. A faculty is a permission granted through that system, given through the Church's own system rather than by a council. The Order that defines the exemption places Church of England buildings within the faculty jurisdiction, and that is why a parish usually applies to the church authorities rather than to the council.
The Stone Roofing Association points to the same route in its Horsham stone guide. Where a stone roof is changed from single lap to double lap, it says building control approval will be needed and, where the building is a church, a faculty as well. In other words, the approvals that apply to a house are not removed for a church. They are joined by a faculty.
Likely and unlikely faculty questions
Work that returns a roof to its previous state, using its own stone, is likely to be a simpler question than a change of covering or of laying method. Moving from stone to clay tile would be a much larger matter, and one to raise with the church authorities at the earliest stage. Which jobs need a full faculty and which fall under a lesser permission is for the church authorities to say, so the parish should put the specific proposal to its own advisers.
The parish will know whom to contact first. What we can do is make the technical case clear: a survey, photographs of the roof and the faults, and a written quote at one total price, so that the people deciding have something concrete to read.
Other exempt denominations
The exemption is not limited to the Church of England. Under the 2010 Order, four more groups are covered while their churches are in use: Roman Catholics, Methodists, Baptist Union churches held by a listed trust corporation, and United Reformed churches on the specified trusts. Each follows its own procedure.
The government guidance explains that these denominations have documented procedures for managing change. For Roman Catholic churches it refers to the diocesan historic churches committee. For the Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed churches the approval sits with the denomination's own approval process, and the church's property office can point you to it.
Baptist churches need the right trust
The Baptist exemption has a condition attached. The building must be held by a trust corporation named in a schedule to the Order, and a Baptist chapel held in some other way does not qualify. The United Reformed Church exemption likewise depends on the building being held on the specified United Reformed Church trusts. So the first step for a chapel is to check how the building is held.
Churches of any other faith or denomination, such as Unitarian or Quaker meeting houses, are not exempt. The guidance says no other faiths or denominations currently benefit. Their roofs follow the same route as any listed building: listed building consent from the local authority, whatever the roof is made of. A small chapel with a stone roof might therefore need a council application even though the church down the road does not.
If you are unsure which category a building falls into, the first call is to the council's conservation team or the denomination's own property office, not to a roofer.
When the exemption stops
Three situations take a church back into the ordinary system.
The first is closure. The guidance says a Church of England church that has been closed for regular public worship under the Pastoral Measure goes back under ordinary listed building and conservation area controls. For the other exempt denominations, the exemption falls away the moment worship stops. A redundant church with a stone roof therefore needs listed building consent, which the local council decides.
The second is a change of use. An exempt building must be in ecclesiastical use, which the law ties to the building currently being used for worship, so a church hall used for something else, or a former chapel converted to a home, is outside it.
Scheduled monuments
The third is a scheduled monument, which includes some structures in churchyards. The exemption never covers these. Anyone carrying out works to repair or alter a scheduled monument needs scheduled monument consent, issued by the Secretary of State, and it is an offence to proceed without it. The guidance is explicit that the exemption is not an exemption from that requirement.
A practical reminder follows, because this is the case that catches owners out. If a church roof is near or part of something scheduled, such as a lychgate or a boundary structure, ask before work begins. Ask the church authorities and the council early, and write down what you are told.
Planning permission is a separate question again, and the guidance is clear that the exemption does not remove it. External development affecting a listed place of worship still needs it where the ordinary rules require it.
What a Horsham stone church roof involves
A stone roof on a church shares its features with a house roof, only larger and higher. The slabs come in random sizes and run from large at the bottom edge to small at the top, a pattern called diminishing courses. They are laid either in double lap, where each course overlaps the one below, or in single lap, a system found only on Horsham stone, with Welsh slate shadows set in mortar to cover the joints.
Whichever system a roof uses, the Stone Roofing Association's guide puts one principle first: the slabs already on the roof stay in work, and double lap is kept or restored where practical. On a church the same priorities apply, with the added weight of an approval body that wants to see them respected.
Specification matters more than speed
A roofer working on a church roof should describe the method before starting. That covers how many slabs are expected to be saved, how the courses will be set out, what is to be done about the battens and timbers beneath and where, if anywhere, shadow slates are needed. See our guide to relaying a stone slate roof for the method in more detail, and our guide to stone slate sizes for why the courses vary.
Height brings access and safety questions of its own. Scaffold on a church usually needs time to arrange and, if the footing falls on a public footway, a licence from the highway authority, applied for by the scaffold firm. We plan this in at the survey stage.
Costs for stone work depend on how much of the original stone can be saved, the access needed and the size of the roof. We explain the figures we can cite in our stone slate roof cost guide, and the quote is written after the survey.
Working with the people who approve the job
Whichever route applies, the approving body will want to see a clear case. A plain file is easiest to approve: photographs of the roof as it is, a description of each fault, a proposed repair that does the least necessary, and a written price that states what is included.
We produce survey photographs of the roof itself, shot from the loft and from outside, along with the written quote. They are intended to be shown to a committee, an architect or a church inspector as readily as to the owner.
Questions for the church authorities
Before any work is booked, put these to the people who approve the job. Does this building fall within the exemption, and under which denomination's procedure? Does the proposed repair count as like for like, or is it a change of covering or laying method? Is any part of the site scheduled? Is there a deadline for the next meeting that decides it? Does a conservation officer need to be told?
Many church repairs are small and urgent, a slipped slab over an aisle or a failed hip, and in that case a temporary make-safe is possible while the permanent repair awaits approval. We prioritise leaks and make a roof safe first, and we will tell you plainly whether a temporary measure needs any permission of its own.
The site is cleared and waste taken away at the end, with care taken over the churchyard path and any graves close to the building. Send us the building's name and any photographs from the ground, and we will arrange a survey.
