A conservation area is a place the council has designated for its special architectural or historic interest. Living in one does not stop you maintaining your roof, but it changes the rules for some of the work, and it raises the standard for materials and detail. For roofs, the main effects are that permitted-development dormers are not allowed, that trees get extra protection, and that a council may have withdrawn further freedoms through an Article 4 direction.
Rushmoor Borough Council, which covers Aldershot, Farnborough and North Camp, names nine designated conservation areas. Two of them are new in 2025, created when the old Farnborough Hill area was split in two. That change is worth knowing about, because older maps, estate agents' details and search results may still show the earlier boundary.
This guide lists the nine areas by name, explains what each Article 4 direction covers on a roof, sets out which repairs are like for like and which need consent, and covers a building in the borough that follows a different route entirely, St Michael's Abbey. It is general guidance, and the council's planning team has the final word on any address.
Nine areas, and the 2025 split
Rushmoor's own list of designated conservation areas is as follows, in alphabetical order, and every name is used here as the council gives it. The dates are the council's designation dates, with later revisions in brackets.
- Aldershot Military, 2003, revised 2021.
- Aldershot West, 1980, revised 1982, 1989 and 2025.
- Basingstoke Canal, 1977, revised 2022.
- Cargate, 1980, revised 1982, 1989 and 2020.
- Farnborough Hill, 2025.
- Farnborough Street, 2025.
- Manor Park, 1980, revised 1989 and 2022.
- St Michael's Abbey, 1977.
- South Farnborough, 1987, revised 2025.
What changed in 2025
The original Farnborough Hill conservation area, designated in 1977 and revised in 1989, was divided in 2025. Two new areas replaced it, Farnborough Hill and Farnborough Street, and the original designation was withdrawn. If your documents refer to the old Farnborough Hill area, check which of the two new areas now applies to your house.
What is in a name
Several names point to features of the borough: the Basingstoke Canal passes through Rushmoor, and the council notes that Aldershot has been a military town since the 1850s. St Michael's Abbey is the Benedictine monastery in Farnborough, and the council says the oldest part of Farnborough can be traced to the area around Farnborough Street. Each area has its own character, which a roofer is expected to respect when choosing a covering.
A street can sit near an area without being inside it, so the boundary of your address is what counts. Our guide to planning permission for roof work sets the national rules that the designation changes.
What a conservation area changes on a roof
Designation sits on top of the ordinary planning rules. Most of the effect is about how work is done and which freedoms remain.
Re-roofing is still normally permitted
Class C, the class that covers alterations to a house roof, has no exclusion for conservation areas. A change of covering on a house can therefore still be permitted development, subject to the usual measurement of 0.15 metres beyond the original slope, and to any Article 4 direction. What a conservation area changes is the importance of matching: a visible slope in a different material can alter the character of a street, and the council may ask questions even where the law does not require an application.
Dormers need an application
A conservation area is article 2(3) land, and Class B does not allow dormers there. A dormer therefore needs a full planning application, which the council will judge against the area's appraisal and its own policies. Our planning guide gives the volume limits that apply elsewhere. That includes the question of whether a front slope is involved, since a street-facing slope is judged more strictly still.
Flats are different again
Rushmoor's overview says flats have no permitted development rights at all. In practice, a flat roof or window change in any of the nine areas needs an application unless it is a like-for-like replacement, and the freeholder's agreement is often needed too.
Trees
Trees in a conservation area get extra protection. Rushmoor asks for six weeks' notice before work on a tree whose stem is 75 millimetres or more at a height of 1.5 metres. That affects scaffolding and access, so we raise it at survey if a tree overhangs the roof.
Article 4: Cargate, Church Circle and Wellesley
An Article 4 direction withdraws specified permitted development rights across a defined area. Rushmoor has several, and three matter to a homeowner thinking about a roof.
Cargate (Aldershot)
The Cargate direction was made as an immediate direction on 31 July 2020 and applies to the Cargate conservation area in Aldershot. Its scope is any work that shows from the road or from open ground, and chimneys and flues are on the list, along with windows and doors. A homeowner who wants to take a stack down, rebuild one or add a new flue in Cargate should ask the council first, since permission is needed. Nothing here stops ordinary repairs that keep a chimney as it is, such as repointing or replacing a pot to match.
Church Circle (Farnborough)
This direction sits within the South Farnborough conservation area. Its subject is front gardens paved over for parking. Roofs are not its concern, yet it shows that protection in this part of Farnborough is spread across several features of a house.
Wellesley (Aldershot)
Wellesley's direction deals with front hard surfaces, front gates and walls, and aerials fixed to a chimney, a wall or a roof slope facing the road. A satellite dish on a front slope there becomes a planning matter, and that is worth knowing before a dish is moved during a re-roof.
Town and district centres
Rushmoor also has directions on town and district centres, covering the change of shops to homes, and on employment land. They do not concern roof coverings.
Check your address
Each direction is tied to its own boundary, so a house can be a few doors outside it. These directions are specific to their areas, and an address that looks close may be outside. Ask the council in writing before you start. Our short answer on chimney repairs in a conservation area goes through the stack in particular.
Like-for-like repairs and changes that need consent
The practical question for most owners is whether a given job is a repair or a change. The law's test is the effect on the building's appearance.
What counts as like for like
Where work leaves the outside of a building unchanged in appearance, planning law does not treat it as development. Replacing a cracked clay tile with a matching clay tile, re-bedding a ridge in the same profile, renewing a lead flashing in lead, and clearing a gutter all sit comfortably in that category. In a conservation area the matching must be careful: same material, colour, size and fixing pattern.
What tends to need an application
- A dormer, which is not permitted development on this land.
- Swapping slate or clay for a visibly different covering on a street-facing slope, where the look of the house changes.
- Removing a chimney in Cargate, or anywhere else a direction applies.
- A satellite antenna on a front slope in Wellesley.
- Any alteration to a flat that is more than a like-for-like swap.
Judgement calls
Some jobs sit between the two lists, such as replacing old concrete tiles with a lighter-coloured product or adding a roof window on the street side. For those, we raise the question at survey and suggest asking the council before ordering materials. Building Regulations are a separate matter, and our answer on building control in Farnborough explains who handles them.
A repair that matches what is there is rarely a planning issue. A change that alters how the street sees the roof usually is.
Listed buildings and St Michael's Abbey
Some buildings in these areas carry an extra layer of control, and one follows a different system altogether.
Listed houses
A listed house keeps Class B and Class C permitted development, but works that alter its special interest need listed building consent, under section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. A new roof covering, a re-bedded ridge in a different style or a changed chimney can all qualify. Consent is separate from planning permission, and you may need both. Carrying out unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal matter, so wait for the written decision.
The Aldershot and Farnborough listings
Rushmoor's overview says seven buildings on the former Royal Aircraft Establishment site are protected by statutory listing. We describe no roofs there. The point for owners elsewhere is that listing is shown on the national list, and the council can confirm whether your house is on it.
St Michael's Abbey
The abbey is a Benedictine monastery, and so part of the Roman Catholic Church. Roof work on the abbey church, which is in use for worship, is dealt with by the Catholic Church's own system rather than by council listed building consent. We name no body, because the details belong with the abbey and its advisers. The abbey's conservation area, designated in 1977, still sits inside the council's planning system for other buildings and for trees.
Other denominations
For a Church of England parish church that is still used for services, the faculty system applies. Listed building consent is needed for Unitarian and Quaker buildings, for closed churches and for those of the Churches Conservation Trust, and a scheduled monument needs scheduled monument consent.
Finding your area and asking the council
You do not have to guess. A few steps give you a firm answer before any roofer prices the job.
Find your address
Rushmoor publishes its conservation area pages, with an overview document dated June 2025, on its website. The overview sets out each area's history, boundary and character, and reading the paragraph for your own area tells you what the council values there. Look for your road on the map and note whether it lies inside one of the nine areas, which Article 4 directions apply, and whether your house is listed.
Ask in writing
Email or write to the planning team at Rushmoor Borough Council, giving the address, a short description of the work and a photograph. The council's contact pages route planning questions to the right team. Keep the reply, and show it to your roofer so that the survey takes account of it.
What we do at survey
We check the address against the council's area list before pricing, and we tell you what we see on the roof. Where the house stands in a conservation area, the covering is matched carefully, any consent route is flagged in writing, and one price reflects it.
Neighbouring councils
The rules differ across the border. In Hart, a 1998 set of directions covers frontage roof slopes and chimneys in most of its conservation areas. Other councils have their own. Ask the council for your address, because a rule from one area does not transfer to another.
For the overall picture of how we work in Farnborough, start from our roofing homepage.
