The short answer
The Cotswolds National Landscape, a designation that is still an AONB in law, covers a little over half of the district of Stroud. It means dormers and exterior cladding are no longer permitted development, so they need planning permission. Roof windows within the limits, and re-roofing like for like, are usually untouched. Stroud District Council, not the National Landscape board, is the planning authority.
What the designation is, and how much of Stroud it covers
The Cotswolds National Landscape is today's name for the Cotswolds AONB, the former title. In law the designation remains an AONB, and the Cotswolds National Landscape website describes it as spanning nearly 800 square miles.
The council's own district profile puts the designation at just over 50 per cent of Stroud District's land area, with much of the eastern half inside it. A home on the escarpment or the high ground above the valleys may well be covered, while one on a valley floor may not. Do not assume either way: ask Stroud District Council to confirm the boundary for your address, because the answer decides which rules apply to every project below.
What it changes: dormers and cladding
Planning rules treat designated areas as Article 2(3) land, where a short list of permitted development rights is withdrawn. Two of them touch roofs.
- Dormers. A dormer is a window box projecting from the slope. Class B of the General Permitted Development Order excludes roof additions on Article 2(3) land, which puts a dormer loft conversion through the full planning application route.
- Cladding. Class A likewise excludes cladding any part of a dwellinghouse's exterior. That can matter when a gable end or a dormer cheek is to be faced in a new material.
This is general information, not legal advice. For any particular project, ask Stroud District Council's planning team.
What it does not change: roof windows and like-for-like work
Two common jobs are left alone, and people often assume the reverse.
Roof windows. Class C, which covers roof windows and rooflights, has no restriction for Article 2(3) land. Inside the National Landscape a roof window within those limits can remain permitted development, unless an Article 4 direction, a condition on an earlier permission or a listing has removed the right. Among the limits, it may stand no more than 0.15 metres proud of the original slope and may not sit higher than the roof's highest point.
Re-roofing like for like. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 carves out work that does not materially alter how a building looks from outside, so it is not development. Replacing stone slate with stone slate, or clay with clay, will not usually need permission, though a listed home is different and so is a conservation area with an Article 4 direction.
The Building Regulations apply in the same way in or out of the designation, so a notifiable re-roof is still notified.
Who decides: the council, not the National Landscape board
The National Landscape's own board does not act as a planning authority. It publishes planning advice and responds to applications, but it never grants or refuses permission. Applications are decided by the district council, which here means Stroud District Council, whose planners, not the board, give the answer.
The practical effect is simple. A dormer needs an application, made to the council. Whether a scheme suits a particular house and its surroundings is a question for the council's planners and conservation officers. The board's published advice helps you see what the planners will weigh, but the decision stays with them. It is also worth reading before you commission drawings, since it shows what applicants are asked to demonstrate and saves a round of correspondence.
Stone, appearance and what officers tend to look at
Even where no application is needed, how a roof looks counts for a lot in this landscape. On stone the traditional answer is stone to match, in the kind of rock, its colour, texture and size, and its thickness. Cotswold District Council's technical guidance, quoting English Heritage policy, calls substitutes such as reconstituted stone inappropriate on historic buildings.
Our own stone work follows it, replacing stone with stone and slate with slate, and the survey notes what covers each slope before any price is set.
Listing tightens matters again. Our page on roof work on listed and conservation-area homes covers that, and the designation described here is a separate question.
Checking before you commit
Before ordering a dormer, cladding or a change of covering, ask the council. One slip is to read a neighbour's project as a precedent, when each house may differ in listing, in conservation area status or in an earlier planning condition. Another is relying on a builder's word for a question that belongs to the planners. A reply from the council, kept on file, also helps if you sell, because a buyer's solicitor may ask what was checked and when. Tell them the address, what you want to do and whether the house is listed. Ask in writing, so the answer is on record. For Article 4 areas, see Article 4 directions in Stroud.
Plain terms such as verge, ridge and hip can be confusing on a planning form, so our roofing terms glossary defines them in ordinary language.
We can survey your roof, photograph it and tell you whether the job looks like permitted work or something to ask the council about. Every part of the work is covered in our written quote, and the finished job carries a written 10-year workmanship guarantee. Call 01453 933613, use WhatsApp or the enquiry form, or return to the Supreme Roofing home page.