Roof work in the South Downs National Park: who decides?

The National Park spreads across several council areas, and the South Downs National Park Authority, often shortened to SDNPA, is the planning body for all of it. How an application reaches the Authority depends on where the house stands. Where the property is in Arun, Adur and Worthing, or Horsham, the SDNPA itself handles planning and enforcement, and it asks owners to deal with it directly. The Authority calls these its recovered areas.

If the land is in Chichester, East Hampshire or Winchester, then your district council receives applications on the SDNPA's behalf, and you deal with your local authority. So a house at Burpham, Findon or Patching goes to the Authority, while one at Midhurst, Petworth or Petersfield goes through the district council. Havant and Portsmouth are not on the Authority's lists, so a roof there follows the ordinary council route, with Havant Borough Council or Portsmouth City Council as the planning authority. If you are unsure which part you live in, ask the SDNPA before work begins.

Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lets some work escape the label of development altogether, namely work that does not change the building's external appearance in any material way. Re-roofing in the same material and colour will usually qualify, while switching to a visibly different covering may not. On listed buildings, the Authority tells owners that routine upkeep, or a small repair done with matching materials, does not need listed building consent.

Listed buildings are the first caveat, since any alteration that affects its character needs consent, and the roof is often a large part of that character. Conservation areas inside the Park are the second: Arun's website explains that the National Park is responsible for any conservation area within its boundary. An Article 4 direction is the third, because it can withdraw named permitted development rights across a defined area. Our answer on changing tiles in a conservation area covers the practical side.

Two common extras need more care here. Class C of the permitted development rules covers other roof alterations such as a roof window, and it can still apply in a National Park unless an Article 4 direction or a condition takes it away; a listed house needs listed building consent as well. Any window in a side slope has to be obscure-glazed, and our answer on skylight planning permission sets out the conditions.

Dormers are a different matter. Class B rights do not extend to land in a National Park, a conservation area or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which includes the harbour landscape around Chichester, designated before 2023 under the older Outstanding Natural Beauty label. In those places a dormer needs a planning application. Our answer on Chichester Harbour roof work deals with the harbour side. Flats stand apart, since the permitted development rights for roofs apply to houses and not to flats.

Whichever body decides planning, building control for work in the Park stays with the district or borough council. West Sussex County Council's guide to planning responsibilities puts building regulations and building control with those councils, and gives the SDNPA responsibility for planning inside the national park. So a re-roof in Findon could involve the Authority for a planning question and Arun for building control, as our answer on Arun building control explains.

When you contact us, say whether your home is listed, sits in a conservation area or lies inside the Park. The survey includes pictures of each fault, and we explain the consent position in plain terms. If a permission is needed, the written quote follows once the scope of the work is clear. Our roof replacement page and our home page show how the process runs.

Check the position before anything is bought. Ask the planning team that covers your address what applies to your roof, and keep its answer in writing. Matching an old covering on a listed or protected house can be worth more than a cheaper modern substitute, and the council may want to see samples. A refusal after the tiles have arrived costs more than a letter beforehand. If the council wants to see a sample, the delay is easier to bear before the scaffold goes up than after.

The same care applies to trees and wildlife around a Downs property. Bats and their roosts, along with nesting birds, have legal protection, and a roofing job can disturb either, so mention any roost or nest you know of. Our answer on bats and roof work gives a plain steer, and the planning team can advise on anything particular to your site.