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23/00576/B Page 1 of 6
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Application No. : 23/00576/B Applicant : Manxutilities Proposal : Replace existing Fossil fuelled Boiler with an Air Source Heat Pump Site Address : Thie Corneil Bayr Grianagh Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1HL
Senior Planning Officer: Mr Jason Singleton Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 20.06.2023 __
Conditions and Notes for Approval
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
C 1. The development hereby approved shall be begun before the expiration of four years from the date of this decision notice.
Reason: To comply with Article 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.
C 2. The Air Source Heat Pump must be installed according to the plans and supporting information and must be maintained as such thereafter.
Reason: To ensure the development is implemented according to the plan submitted and in the interest of protecting amenities of neighbouring property.
C 3. The only model of Air Source Heat Pump that shall be installed is the PUZ-WM112VAA(- BS) Ecodan R32 Monobloc Air Source Heat Pump
Reason: To ensure the development is implemented according to the plan submitted and in the interest of protecting amenities of neighbouring property.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The planning application would not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties and has been designed to comply with General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
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Plans/Drawings/Information;
This decision relates to drawings and supporting information received on 15 May 2023, referenced; 1 - Location plan 2 - Site plan 3 - Proposed Plan 4 - Existing rear elevation view 5 - Proposed rear elevation view
ASHP data sheet 11.2KW Heat Loss Report Sound Report Window A, B, C
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
1.0 THE SITE 1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of Thie Corneil, Bayr Grianagh, Castletown, which is situated on the eastern corner plot at the junction of Bayr Grianagh and Arbory Road. The existing property is two storeys high and pebble dashed. There is a conservatory at the side of the dwelling facing Arbory Road, which has an ornate roof finished in UPVC which has a pebble dash brick plinth. The conservatory can be seen from Arbory Road, with the conservatory roof being visible from the side of the property.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the installation of a single air source heat pump (ASHP) to generate renewable heating and hot water storage cylinder to replace a fossil fuel boiler. The proposed unit is noted as Mitsubishi Ecodan R32 Monobloc Airsource Heat Pump PUZ-WM112VAA(-BS) 11.2kW - measuring dimensions of; 1050mm L x 1020 Ht x 480 W.
2.2 The air source heat pumps would be situated towards the elevation (north) adjacent to a 1.8m high timber fence on the boundary with No.25 Bayr Grianagh. The ASHP is not affixed to the property but is 1.5m from the rear elevation and 200mm from the fence.
2.3 The applicants (MUA) have submitted a drawing with a dimensions to the nearest neighbouring property (No.25 Bayr Grianagh) windows which shows dimensions of 4.5m to the "nearest Window B " on the ground floor and "Window A" to the first floor that are both located to the rear elevation. "Window C" is measured to the other neighbour No.10 Stowell Place as 14.5m.
2.5 The application is supported with trade literature for the ASHP and a Heat loss report of the property and a sound report noting the noise levels provided by the product specifications submitted indicate that the noise emitted by the unit would be 45dBA @ 1 metre.
3.0 PLANNING POLICY 3.1 In terms of local plan policy, the application site is within an area recognised as being predominately residential use under the Area Plan for the South.
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3.2 The site is not within a conservation area or within an area identified as being at risk of flooding.
3.3 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered specifically material to the assessment of this application;
o General Policy 2 o Environment Policy 22 o Energy Policy 4
3.3 The Strategic Plan also provides guidance on the installation of renewable energy apparatus:
"12.2.8 "The Department is fully supportive of the need to secure greater energy efficiency in new and existing development ...At the same time, the Department recognises that renewable energy sources can have adverse environmental impacts. ...There may also be other impacts such as noise... The Department will assess any proposals ... by weighing the benefits of using such renewable energy sources against the environmental impact arising in any particular site."
3.4 Residential Design Guide 2021.
3.5 Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development and Change of Use) (Amendment) Order 2020 - Class 23A Air source heat pumps
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 The application site benefits from the previous decision, material to this application; 19/00608/B - Replacement of existing glazed conservatory roof with tile. Approved.
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS (in brief, full reps can be read online) Statutory consultees 5.1 Castletown Commissioners has not commented at the time of writing. 5.2 Highways Services (23/05/23) do not object
Neighbour consultees 5.3 As part of the statutory consultation period, the following adjoining neighbours were written to; o 25 Bayr Grianagh ( to the north) and o 'South View', 10 Stowell Place (to the east)
6.0 ASSESSMENT The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are; (i) Principle (GP2, EP4) (ii) Visual Impact (GP2) (iii) Neighbouring amenity (GP2, EP22)
Principle 6.1 The principle of the proposal would be aligned with the sustainable objectives of the Strategic Plan and the more recent Climate Change Bill (yet to be appointed) which encourages the provision of renewable energy of which Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) would fit within the use. Furthermore, the installation of Air Source Heat Pump has been classified as a Permitted Development when it complies with certain conditions regarding its installation and noise output levels. As such the principle of the installation of an alternate (to fossil fuel boiler) form of energy production would be acceptable.
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6.2 The installation would partially comply with Town & Country Planning (Permitted Development & Change of Use) Amended Order 2020, in relation to sound output. This application has been submitted due to the outdoor unit being within 1m of the boundary and the sound level output exceeds 42db LAeq 5 mins.
Visual Impact 6.3 The installation of the ASHP would be to the rear / side elevation of the property behind the rear building line, for which there are no public views and any views from within the curtilage of the dwelling house would be used in conjunction with the use of the property and not as an incongruous feature or be considered to be detrimental to the character of the area. The installation would only be a minor addition to the façade in comparison to the overall size of the building and would not be detrimental to the surrounding residential area and would be in accordance with GP2.
Neighbouring amenity 6.4 In terms of noise nuisance, and noting the potential impact to those two neighbouring properties with concerns for noise disrupting for what is a quiet area. When looking at potential noise impact, the sound pressure level of the proposed heat pump (45dBA) and Power Level (58dBA) is expected to theoretically operate between 45-58 dBA noting the sound data on the trade literature.
6.5 When putting this into context a similar noise level generated by passing traffic equates to 50dB and 60dB is the level of noise impact of a normal conversation or a washing machine. Whilst everyone is different most people will not be annoyed by activities with LAeg levels below 55dB, however sound pressure levels during the evening and night should be 5-10 dB lower than during the day.
6.6 During the night an ASHP could potentially be a noise nuisance, especially due to background noise levels being lower. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has guidance for noise and the disturbance it can cause and states that both continuous and intermittent noise can lead to sleep disturbances and the more intense the background noise the, the more disturbing is its effect on sleep with the measurable effects on sleep starting at a background noise level of about 30 dB LAeq.
6.7 The WHO guidelines further state that, "In dwellings, the critical effects of noise are on sleep, annoyance and speech interference. To avoid sleep disturbance, indoor guideline values for bedrooms are 30 dB LAeq for continuous noise and 45 dB LAmax for single sound events. Lower levels may be annoying, depending on the nature of the noise source... At night, sound pressure levels at the outside façades of the living spaces should not exceed 45 dB LAeq and 60 dB LAmax, so that people may sleep with bedroom windows open. These values have been obtained by assuming that the noise reduction from outside to inside with the window partly open is 15 dB."
6.8 When looking at the possible noise disturbance on any neighbouring property, whilst there is no guidance or standards within the Isle of Man Legislation that cover noise level matters from equipment such as ASHP's, Permitted Development has been approved and as such an applicant can install an ASHP without formal planning permission if the unit does not result in an noise level exceeding 42 dB LAeq 5 mins (with conditions). This is the same as the permitted development within England and Scotland.
6.9 The Permitted Development Amendment Order 2020 states, "LAeq 5 mins means the A weighted equivalent continuous sound pressure level over 5 minutes when measured at 1 metre external to the centre point of any relevant door or window to any neighbouring building as measured perpendicular to the plane of the relevant door or window." To better understand what the LAeq 5 mins for the neighbouring property would be guidance was sought from the
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English and Scottish Permitted Development which must comply with the conditions within the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Planning Standards (MCS020).
6.10 Turning towards neighbouring properties and having visited the application site and Stowell Place, it was noted the general topography and distances between the rear elevation of the application site and that of the rears of those properties of Ballaquane Park. In terms of noise arguably the nearest property to be affected could be neighbouring dwelling No.25 who shares a boundary (its is noted they have not objected) and the ASHP is to be mounted adjacent to the boundary wall. Given this, the drop off of sound in dBA terms would diminish over the distance as theoretically demonstrated in the noise assessment.
6.11 The level of impact is not considered to be a major reason for refusal. Especially as an example, a new Worcester Bosch Greenstar 4000 boiler, which is one of the top 5 quietest boilers on the market has a sound output of 42dB and arguably the general back ground noise levels would be around 40 dB(A) in theory.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 The proposal is considered to comply with GP2 and Environment Policy 22 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and not having any significant impacts upon the neighbouring amenities in terms of noise or visual impact. There would be no impacts upon public or private amenities. Therefore it is recommended for an approval.
8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons: (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf); (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material; (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure; (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (f) the local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated; and (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material.
8.2 The decision maker must determine: o whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than the Department of Infrastructure Highway Services Division) are material; and o whether there are other persons to those listed above who should be given Interested Person Status __
I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Principal Planner in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded Interested Person Status.
Decision Made : Permitted
Date: 23.06.2023
Determining officer Signed : C BALMER
Chris Balmer
Principal Planner
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