Officer Report

Application No.: 18/00211/C Applicant: Property Wise Limited Proposal: Change of use of premises from retail to Class 2 Financial and Professional Services Site Address: Shop 3 Michael Street Peel Isle Of Man IM5 1HA Case Officer : Miss Lucy Kinrade Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 12.04.2018 _________________________________________________________________

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.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to site plan, location plan, existing and proposed floor plans, 2 photographs of the site and a covering letter from the applicant (Property Wise) all date stamped and received 02/03/2018.

_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons NONE _____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THE SITE

1.1 The site is the curtilage of 3, Michael Street, Peel an existing shop unit situated adjacent to the corner of Michael Street and Douglas Street. The premise is currently used as an opticians.

1.2 To the rear of the property is an existing private car park. The application indicates on the existing floor plan that there is parking for 1 vehicle to the rear of the property. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Proposed is the change of use of the ground floor from optician retail (Class 1) to an estate agency (Class 2). The applicant indicates that the business would open 6 days a week Monday

• Saturday from 9am - 5:30pm. The business will have 2 or 3 staff working in the unit during the week. One parking space is available to the rear of the property and public car parking available off Douglas Street. The applicant indicates that for sale boards are delivered once every three months and stationary once a month.

2.2 No external or internal alterations are proposed. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 While the site has been subject to a number of previous applications for external alterations to the building, none are considered materially relevant to the assessment of the current application. PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Peel Local Plan of 1989 as Mixed Use where a wide range of commercial uses exist. Along Michael Street and the immediate vicinity you will find retail units, hot food take aways, shops, cafes, estate agents and travel agents.

4.2 The appropriate policy to be applied to this development is General Policy 2 which sets out general standards of development, the relevant parts of which are as follows:

"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;

• 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 adverse effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways."

4.3 The Strategic Plan sets out standards for car parking which require offices to have one parking spaces for every 50 sq m of floorspace and town centre shops are required to provide space for service vehicle use.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Highway Services have stated that the proposed use would be as an estate agent with minimal delivery requirements as such no access changes are necessary. The shop is located in Peel town centre with 2 or 3 staff members. There is one car parking space at the rear along with car parking within the town centre which should satisfy the parking demand of the site and therefore should not create any new highway issues. As such Highway Services do not oppose the application (12/04/2018).

5.2 Peel Town Commissioners have commented on the application indicating no objection to the proposal (06/04/2018). ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The shop use will attract visiting members of the public in the same way as the opticians have and as such, the impact of both is very similar. The activity associated with the existing shop use is likely to be similar to the proposed estate agent's. Minded that the site sits within of Mixed Use the change from Class 1 to Class 2 is not likely to generate any adverse impacts to the surrounding area.

6.2 The floor area of the unit is just over 50 sq m. Minded of the town centre location it is considered that the provision of one parking space for the unit is acceptable and that suitable parking is located within proximity of the site (approx. 20m from the site) for use by staff, visiting public and service vehicles. In addition to the local car park on-street parking is available in the vicinity although limited by disc for up to 2 hours. Highway Services have also confirmed that they do no oppose the application. CONCLUSION - 7.1 The proposed use is considered to be acceptable and the application is recommended for approval. It is not considered that a condition be added restricting hours of operation as there is little difference in impact between its current use and proposed estate agency use and given that the site is within an area designated as Mixed Use where business are likely to operate at times outside of these such as takeaways and public houses. 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:

• 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 in Article 6(4) who should be given Interested Person Status.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Senior Planning Officer in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 13.04.2018 Determining officer

Signed : S CORLETT Sarah Corlett Senior Planning Officer

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