Roof work in Worthing and Adur conservation areas

1What conservation area status changes

Worthing Borough Council lists 27 designated conservation areas, among them Marine Gardens, added after a 2024 review. Across the boundary the Adur list runs Sompting, Southwick, Southlands, Shoreham-by-Sea, North Lancing, Old Shoreham and Kingston Buci, seven in all. Two Worthing areas, Castle Goring and Highdown, have the National Park Authority as their planning body.

A conservation area counts as article 2(3) land, and in practice that narrows some rights. A dormer, for example, cannot be built under permitted development there, so it needs an application. What the designation does not do is demand permission for every new roof. Upkeep that does not change how a building looks falls outside planning's definition of development, and roof windows can stay permitted development unless a direction or condition takes the right away.

The question to ask is whether your area carries an Article 4 direction. As the councils put it, a direction is no outright ban. It adds a need for planning permission, but only for the matters it names. Some withdraw the right to change roof tiles. Before you order materials, ask the planning team whether your address falls within one.

2Directions that remove roof rights

Five of the directions that were opened bear on roofs. In Old Shoreham (in force 20 January 2023) and Kingston Buci (in force 10 February 2023), a house that faces a public road or path loses the right to alter its roof under Class C, a class that expressly takes in roof coverings and rooflights. Anywhere in those areas, the right to fit, alter or swap any chimney, flue or soil pipe disappears too.

Warwick Gardens in Worthing, made in 2001, reaches any chimney that is built, altered or removed. If the property looks onto a street or open ground, it also takes in changes to how a slope is shaped or what it is built from, and painting a wall or roof surface. Warwick Place, made in 1997, withdraws Class C roof alterations on properties facing Warwick Place.

Western Row, made in 1978, is annotated as removing all dwellinghouse rights, with enlargement and other alteration of a house in its schedule.

Where one of these applies, a change of material counts. Swapping clay tiles for concrete, or natural slate for a lookalike, is exactly the sort of change that calls for an application. Matching what is already there is far safer, and a roofer who has read the direction will tell you so.

3Directions that do not touch roofs

Not every direction concerns roofs. Ambrose Place and Cowper Road in Worthing both have one, and neither removes roof rights. Ambrose Place is about garden buildings, paving and boundary treatments, while Cowper Road is about paving and boundary treatments alone. Anyone who tells you these two stop you re-roofing has misread them.

The councils list eight Worthing directions and nine in Adur in all. If your road has one that is not named here, put the question to the Adur & Worthing planning team, which can say what it covers.

The routine never varies: identify the direction, read what it lists, and put any doubt to the planning team in writing. The shared team can be reached through the contacts in our building control answer, although it is the planning side that answers a permitted development question.

It also helps to keep a photograph of your roof as it stands today. If a direction applies, being able to show that a new covering matches the old one makes the conversation with the council quicker, and gives your roofer a clear specification to price against.

4Practical steps before you re-roof

First, find out whether your house is in a conservation area and whether a direction applies. Look at the council's conservation pages, and if your address sits on the edge of an area, ask. Second, describe the work precisely: like-for-like tiles, a new covering in a different material, a roof window and a chimney repair all raise different questions.

Third, remember the exceptions. A listed building needs consent for any work that alters its character, and repairs in non-matching materials can fall into that group. If your home lies within the National Park, the South Downs planning answer explains who decides.

Whatever the planning answer, check whether a quote includes VAT; VAT on roofing work explains the basics. For a broader view of what roofers do, read roofing jobs explained.

A roofer familiar with the area will raise all this before pricing. If one does not, ask. Keep any council reply with your quote, and show it to the roofer so the materials match what was agreed. Our Watertight Worthing Roofing home page shows how we work through a survey.