Building control in Adur and Worthing: who to call for roof work

1One team for two councils

Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council run on a joint management structure, and building control sits inside it. Whether your house is in Worthing, Lancing, Sompting or Shoreham, you deal with the same team, based at Worthing Town Hall, Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 1HA.

The two councils are still separate planning authorities, each with its own conservation areas and Article 4 directions, so do not assume the planning position matches on both sides of the boundary. Planning and building control are also different jobs. Planning asks whether work is acceptable in principle; building control checks how it is built against the Building Regulations.

Not all roof work needs building control at all. The Planning Portal sets two limits, 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, and below both a repair or re-covering usually goes ahead without an application. Structural alterations, a significantly heavier covering or a solid conservatory roof are among the jobs that do need one. A roofer who tells you which side of that line you are on has done you a favour.

2Contact details and what changed in April 2024

You can reach the team by email at building.control@adur-worthing.gov.uk, or by the telephone numbers listed on the councils' building control contact page, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Inspection visits are booked through the same page, so check it before you call.

Since 6 April 2024 the councils say the team concentrates on statutory work, because the Building Safety Regulator has told them design advice is no longer something they may offer. A call to ask whether a particular roof design will pass is therefore unlikely to produce a ruling. What the team can do is process an application, inspect the work and tell you what it needs.

The councils describe a national shortage of building inspectors under the new registration, so expect the service to be stretched. Allow time before a job starts, and ask your roofer to name the stage at which an inspection will be needed.

We explain consent to customers and handle the Building Regulations notification when work is notifiable, so the paperwork does not fall on you.

3Fees and the stages you must report

The councils publish their domestic charges from 1 April 2026. VAT is added to every fee apart from regularisation fees, so check whether a figure you are given includes it. Charges are tied to the work, which makes the council's fees page the place to find the current number for your project.

Fees are only part of the picture. According to the councils, you as owner are legally required to notify the team as work reaches certain points. For roof work that could be the point when the structure is exposed, before anything is covered up. If a stage is missed, an inspector cannot see what is hidden, and you may be asked to open the work up again.

Ask your roofer which stages apply and who will phone to book each one. Regularisation is the way to deal with work finished without approval, and it carries a separate fee. It is far easier to notify first than to regularise later, particularly when a buyer or lender asks for paperwork.

If your address is inside the National Park, planning questions go elsewhere; see the South Downs National Park planning answer.

4Using a registered building control approver instead

The council is not the only route. Since 6 April 2024, a private business that wants to carry out building control in England must sit on the Building Safety Regulator's register as a registered building control approver. You can appoint one of them for your project in place of the council.

GOV.UK says the regulator can impose sanctions on an approver that breaks the professional conduct rules, so check that a firm is on the register before you appoint it. Older paperwork may use a different title for the private route, but the current term is the one to look for, and it is also the one to quote if you ring to check a firm out.

Which route suits you depends on the job. The council is a familiar local team, while a private approver may offer different availability. Either way the regulations are identical and the work is inspected against them.

If the roof work touches a shared wall, party wall notices for roof work are a separate duty. Before the job begins, questions to ask a roofer gives a checklist, and for conservation-area addresses see roof work in Worthing and Adur conservation areas. You can also start from the Watertight Worthing Roofing home page.