Officer Report

Application No.: 17/00190/B Applicant: Mr Dickie Best Proposal: Conversion of outbuilding to provide residential and tourist living accommodation Site Address: Detached Outbuilding 1 High Street Port St. Mary Isle Of Man Case Officer : Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken: 07.02.2018 Site Visit: 07.02.2018 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 23.05.2018 _________________________________________________________________

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 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

• C 2. Prior to the occupation of the accommodation hereby approved, the parking spaces shown in drawing 1631-PL03 must be available for use by the occupants of the building or by those in 1, High Street and the spaces must remain as such, unobstructed, thereafter. Reason: to ensure that there is sufficient on site car parking in the interests of highway safety.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to drawings 1631-PL01, 1631-PL02, 1631-PL03 received on 2nd November, 2017 _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status – Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is a piece of land which sits to the rear of 1 High Street in Port St. Mary. The land also stretches to the rear of the two properties to the north - 3 and 5 High Street both of which are subdivided into flats as is number 1. The site is separate from the curtilage of 1, High Street and it contains a slim building which sits on the western side of the site with between 1.6 and 3.5m from the rear of number 1. The site accommodates a building which is currently a monopitch roofed garage with a garage door opening out onto the highway. Alongside this is a gated passageway which provides pedestrian and vehicular access to the side of the building which has a series of pedestrian doors and windows. The access also provides a way through to the rear of the building to which there is a right of access afforded to the occupants of 1, and 5, High Street. The occupants of Number 1 can also use this space. - 1.2 The building is currently unused - having been used for the storage of domestic items for some time. The building is subdivided internally into two areas, one being a garage served by the front garage door, with an internal length of 5.4m. - 1.3 There is a parking space alongside the building with dimensions of 13m by 2.5m at its narrowest. The alleyway narrows at the rear of number 1 such that vehicular access is not available to the amenity area at the rear of the building. The property thus has two parking spaces available to it - one in the garage and one alongside. - 1.4 To the west is a local authority refuse depot and Port St. Mary rifle club. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Full planning approval is sought for the conversion of the building to a tourist or permanent residential living unit with physical alterations to the building, incorporating the retention of the front and side wall. The side wall facing the rear of 1, High Street will be rebuilt incorporating 3 new pedestrian doors (one being the main entrance into the living accommodation, one set of double doors serving a bin store and the third giving access to the garage, and a window. The side wall will be built 2m taller than the existing, incorporating a first floor which will have three vertically proportioned windows in the side elevation facing 1, High Street and no windows or doors in the other elevations other than the front facing onto the street which will have a garage door installed at ground floor level and a Juliet-style balcony above with patio doors opening inward and providing a view out over the side street. At the rear, the top of the existing wall which has a brick section with a small chimney is to be removed. - 2.2 The accommodation will be a garage, bathroom and bedroom on the ground floor with stairs leading to a kitchen, dining and living room on the first floor. A black coloured flue will be installed in the rear pitch to serve a new wood burning stove. - 2.3 The internal dimensions of the garage are 6m by a minimum of 2.5m, widening to 3m. The front of the garage is not quite parallel with the alignment of the road, resulting in the front of the garage being marginally more set back from the highway than is the side gable of 1, High Street. The area available for parking alongside the building will remain and the existing gates will be removed. - 2.4 The items stored in the building will be moved, sold or taken to the amenity site.

PLANNING HISTORY

• 3.1Although no.1 High Street has been the subject of a number of applications in recent years regarding its use, none of these is considered material to the assessment of the current application.

3.2 It is also worth noting that approval was granted for the partial conversion of a workshop building just north of the application site under PA 97/01206/B.

• THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
• 4.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Area Plan for the South as Mixed Use, which contains no specific policies of relevance to the assessment of this proposal. Accordingly, the principle of the proposal is acceptable.

4.2 Consideration of the detail remains important. The application therefore needs to be assessed against the following policies of the Strategic Plan:

General Policy 2 states in part: "Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:

• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape; (e) does not affect adversely public views of the sea;

• (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;
• (h) provides satisfactory amenity standards in itself, including where appropriate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space;
• (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways; (k) does not prejudice the use or development of adjoining land in accordance with the appropriate Area Plan;

Business Policy 13 states in full: "Permission will generally be given for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation providing that it can be demonstrated that such use would not compromise the amenities of neighbouring residents."

Transport Policy 7 states in full: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards."

Appendix 7 of the Strategic Plan indicates that all dwellings should be provided with two parking spaces, with variance as to where these should be provided depending on the nature of the residential dwelling proposed. However, paragraph A.7.1 allows for individual assessment to be made on a case-by-case basis where appropriate:

"High levels of car ownership have led to an increase in the level of parking expected for new residential development, and outside of town centre locations these standards should not be relaxed. New-built residential development should be provided with two parking spaces per dwelling, at least one of which should be within the curtilage of the dwelling and behind the front of the dwelling, although the amount and location of parking will vary in respect of development such as terracing, apartments, and sheltered housing. In the case of town centre and previously developed sites, the Department will consider reducing this requirement having regard to:

• (a) the location of the housing relative to public transport, employment, and public amenities;
• (b) the size of the dwelling;
• (c) any restriction on the nature of the occupancy (such as sheltered housing); and
• (d) the impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area. Where new dwellings are created by the conversion of existing buildings, parking space should be formed by the clearance of outbuildings and low-grade annexes or "outlets" if it is reasonable and practicable so to do; however, in general, the need to find a use for redundant buildings which are in sound condition will outweigh the drawback of any shortfall in parking provision."

Although reference has been made to Housing Policy 17 in the Planning Statement submitted with the application, this only applies to the conversion of buildings to flats, and while it would still be relevant to consider the policy's wording even though the accommodation proposed is a residential dwelling / tourist unit, the fact it is not a conversion scheme is such that HP17 does not apply in this instance. Criteria regarding amenity are set out in GP2.

4.3 There is no specific mention of the site in the Draft Character Appraisal for the Port St. Mary Conservation Area. High Street is mentioned but primarily with respect to its commercial aspect in terms of use and appearance. Some points of note are set out below:

"Roof coverings are typically slate, although there is limited use of concrete tiles and manmade asbestos slates. In the area to the rear of High Street extending to Park Road, and between Athol Street and Queen's Road, the remaining industry can be found. A large proportion of the industrial premises have corrugated asbestos roofs."

"This is mainly light industry still associated with the fishing industry, including boatbuilding and repairs."

"Generally the blend of natural stone, rough-cast and smooth render finishes, with occasional punctuation of brick, pebble and spa dash, serves to give a pleasing visual impression."

4.4 It is to be noted that the Conservation Area remains unadopted and, while the point above are noteworthy, and materially relevant to the assessment of the application, there is no requirement for the application to be assessed against Environment Policy 35 of the Strategic Plan.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Highway Services recommended that the application as originally set out, which was for a two bedroomed unit, was refused. They have had regard to the amended plans and conclude that they have no objection subject to a condition which requires that the proposed parking space in the yard is provided prior to the occupation of the development and permanently made available for parking and unobstructed thereafter (22.05.18).

5.2 Port St. Mary Commissioners have no objection (24.11.17) although previous correspondence indicated that they had been made aware that a Commissioner owned an adjoining wall and he was concerned that the ridge of the proposed building is a lot taller than the existing and if the garage is not of appropriate proportions it may not be used for parking, resulting in additional vehicles parking on the highway (22.03.17). ASSESSMENT - 6.1 As already noted, the principle of the proposal is acceptable as the site falls within a Mixed Use area of Port St. Mary. However, matters of design, neighbouring living conditions, living conditions offered to prospective residents, and parking/highway safety, need consideration.

Design

6.2 The existing building is not especially attractive without necessarily being a particularly harmful presence in the streetscene. Its size and position relative to other industrial-style buildings and uses does hint at an industrial past, while its prominent stone wall clearly identifies it as being of historical interest. Its diminutive size allows it to sit somewhat unobtrusively in the streetscene, and the larger buildings surrounding it benefit from the space this small building provides them as room to 'breathe'.

6.3 However, it is difficult to argue that it should be retained in its current form. To many people it will appear as little more than a garage, albeit with an attractive western wall. It has a fully rendered front wall and its angle roof is a little awkward. Objectively, it is not considered worthy of particular protection. Indeed, given the designation of the site as somewhere where

• development is not objectionable in principle, there is no need for the building to be retained or to demonstrate that it is of any particular merit.
• 6.4 That being said, it is also important to assess what is proposed in its place. In this case, the slightly larger structure that is proposed is judged well-considered for the site and its surroundings. The prominent gable wall reflects other gables nearby, while the overall increase in massing is not judged excessive: the site, if developed as proposed, will continue to allow the larger and more interesting buildings/street-forms in the area precedence, but this building will offer more design quality in its own right than the current store room. The use of natural (slate) and locally appropriate (render; stone) finishes are significant in this conclusion.
• 6.5 It is therefore concluded that the replacement of the existing building with that proposed is acceptable in the context of parts 'b' and 'c' of General Policy 2. Amenity standards
• 6.6 The dwelling proposed would, it is noted, have 68sqm of internal floorspace. This is well in excess of the amount required under the Housing (Standards) Regulations 2013 of 30sqm. However, the issue here is more to do with the quality of the outlook afforded to prospective residents. Even the agent accepts that the view from the two bedrooms "would not have a necessarily pretty view", though he also notes that such views as could be achieved would match those of the other dwellings in the area. In many ways, views from bedrooms are less essential than an open and clear outlook from rooms where people will generally spend time awake. In this respect, the open plan living room / dining room / kitchen would have a large glazed gable window and four rooflights providing a significant amount of natural light and also affording views to the southeast (but not to the southwest, where a large stone building sits).
• 6.7 There would also be plenty of internal space sufficient for clothes drying and general amenity.
• 6.8 While it is clear that this outlook would not be ideal, it is considered that the amount of amenity offered from the building would be just sufficient in and of itself to satisfy part (h) of General Policy 2. It is also to be remembered that people generally have a choice over where the live, meaning that those concerned by what they may perceive as a lack of sufficient outlook could avoid letting the property. In this case, however, more weight is placed on the considered view that the amenity offered is acceptable than is placed on the notion of 'buyer beware'. Neighbouring living conditions
• 6.9 The residential properties most directly affected are 1, 3 and 5 High Street. The impact on these properties is mitigated by the fact that a lot of the proposed building is already there and the additional fabric is not considered to be of a size or in a position that would signficantly or materially affect the outlook or privacy of those in existing dwellings although there are to be additional windows at first floor level, most of which look towards the applicant's own property. The fact that there is a right of way behind numbers 1, 3 and 5 indicates that the privacy of these properties is perhaps not as great in importance as where there are distinct rear gardens and yards to properties. Highway safety
• 6.10 Two parking spaces will be available to the users of the unit although these spaces exist and are currently available to the occupants of 1, High Street. Thus, parking spaces will be lost to number 1 or not available to the users of the proposed accommodation. The applicant suggests that there is adequate on street parking available in the vicinity to accommodate the vehicles generated by the proposal. As the scheme now proposes only one bedroom, the parking requirement would be one space which is provided by the integral garage. Access and manoeuvrability is improved from the parking space alongside by the removal of the gates.

6.11 The applicant suggests that if there is considered to be a deficit in parking provision, which there is through the introduction of additional living accommodation without a corresponding increase in parking provision, the value of the re-use of existing redundant fabric outweighs this. It is difficult to envisage a use for the building, other than in association with an existing dwelling, which would not generate a need for car parking and one parking space is being retained in the scheme. The site lies within the village centre, within convenient walking distance from existing shops and services and close to public transport links. Indeed, other outbuildings in the village have been approved for residential accommodation and adjacent buildings without any parking have been approved for subdivision into a number of units. Indeed, there is no objection to the application from Highway Services.

CONCLUSION

7.1 The application is considered to accord with the Strategic Plan policies referred to above and is supported. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013 (Article 6(4), the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• (a) The applicant, or if there is one, the applicant's agent;
• (b) The owner and the occupier of any land that is the subject of the application or any other person in whose interest the land becomes vested;
• (c) Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material
• (d) Highway Services Division of Department of Infrastructure and
• (e) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated. 8.2 The decision-maker must determine:

• * whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than the Department of Infrastructure Highway Services Division) are material; and
• * whether there are other persons to those listed in Article 6(4) who should be given Interested Person Status.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Director of Planning and Building Control in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 24.05.2018 Determining officer Signed : J CHANCE Jennifer Chance Director of Planning and Building Control

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