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18/00270/B Page 1 of 5
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 18/00270/B Applicant : The Hooded Ram Brewing Company Ltd Proposal : Installation of air conditioning units and erection of fencing (retrospective) Site Address : Depot Shepards Lodge Leigh Terrace Castletown Road Douglas Isle of Man IM1 5AL
Head of Development Management: Mr S Butler Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 10.07.2018 __
Conditions and Notes for Approval
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
C 1. Within 3 months of the date of this decision notice, the elements of fencing on the front (North) boundary of the site which are not included within the development hereby approved shall be removed. Within 12 months of this decision notice, the elements of fencing to the front (North) and side (East) boundaries of the site, which were carried out prior to the submission of this application and are included within the development hereby approved, shall either be completed in accordance with the approved plans and conditions set out below, or removed from the site.
REASON: The application seeks retrospective approval for a section of an incomplete fence, the section which has been commenced and not included in this application remains unauthorised even with the grant of this approval, the section to be retained needs to be completed in the interests of the visual amenity of the area.
C 2. Within one month of the completion of the fence in accordance with Condition 1 the fencing hereby approved shall be painted black and retained as such thereafter.
REASON: For the avoidance of doubt, to ensure that the proposal is carried out in accordance with the approved plans and in the interests of visual amenity.
C 3. The lockable gates hereby approved shall be the same material, height and colour as the fencing and retained as such thereafter.
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REASON: For the avoidance of doubt and in the interests of visual amenity.
N 1. The application form gives the use as, "Light Industry" and the proposed use as "no change". It is therefore understood that the application does not seek any approval for the use of the site, nor to establish whether any existing or potential use would be lawful.
Plans/Drawings/Information:
This approval relates to the following plans/drawings/information:
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
THE SITE 1.1 The site is currently an existing unit accessed from Castletown Road. To the East of the site is a car park whilst to the West are residential apartments.
THE PROPOSAL 2.1 There are two elements to the proposal:
2.2 The fencing has been partially erected across most of the frontage, this application would enable the retention/completion of part of this (and installation of a gate) and so the removal of part of the existing would still be required even if this application were approved.
2.3 The application form gives the use as, "Light Industry" and the proposed use as "no change". It is therefore understood that the application does not seek any approval for the use of the site, nor to establish whether any existing or potential use would be lawful.
PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 Advice was sought in September 2017 as to whether the use of the site as a brewery would require planning approval. The advice given by Mr. Balmer (Senior Planner) dated 23rd September 2017 is set out below.
"In terms of the unit on Leigh Terrace, Castletown Road, Douglas the last planning application was for: "Creation of delivery access door to existing industrial unit, former H.E. Richards premises, Leigh Terrace, Castletown Road, Douglas." - 96/00850/B which was approved.
The site is also designated as being light industry use on the Douglas Local Plan.
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Accordingly from our records the last use of the building was as indicated above as an "existing industrial unit". Accordingly, unless the last uses within the building were not used in this manner for 10 years or more (i.e. industrial use), I am content that the unit could be again used for industrial purposes without the need for a change of use application being made for the brewery process.
As mention during our discussions, any changes to the external appearance (new window, signage etc) of the building will require planning permission, albeit I would hope these would not raise a concern".
3.2 An open enforcement case has been raised in relation to this site and as part of the investigation of this it appears that a different and intervening use may have taken place, for which a Certificate of Lawfulness has not been sought and has ceased. It may therefore be that there is no authorised use of the site.
PLANNING POLICY 4.1 The site is zoned as light industrial within the Douglas Local Plan. It lies just outside an area of flooding as identified on the 2017 flood maps. It is not within a Conservation Area. It is therefore considered that the policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan (2016) which are set out below are relevant.
4.2 General Policy 2 states that development in accordance with land-use zoning will be supported subject to caveats, which include the impact of design on the site and surroundings (b), avoiding adverse impacts on the character of the townscape (c), not adversely affecting the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality (g), providing safe and convenient access for all highway users and providing adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space (h), having no unacceptable impact on road safety (i) and taking account of safety and security (m).
4.3 Environment Policy 22 indicates that development would not be permitted which would unacceptably harm the amenity of nearby properties due to noise pollution.
REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 DOI Highway Services responded on 30.04.18 to indicate that they did not oppose the application. They indicate that,
"The proposal is retrospective and seeks to formalise permission for the air conditioning units and fencing that are already in place. The air conditioning units are situated away from the public highway. The timber boundary fencing is positioned away from the vehicular site access, and the accesses to adjacent premises, and does not therefore create any adverse impact on highway visibility. As a result, there are no highway issues arising from the proposals. Highway Services does not oppose the application".
5.2 Douglas Borough Council responded on 03.05.18 and indicated they had no objection to the proposal.
ASSESSMENT 6.1 The principle of the use of the site for a brewery is not considered relevant for the consideration of this application. It is an existing commercial premises within an area zoned for light industrial uses. The key issues arising specifically from the works which are included in this application are considered to be:
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6.2 In terms of the impact of the fence proposal on highway safety, it is considered that the proposed works would be acceptable and the comments from DOI Highways are relied on in this regard. It is noted that some works to erect fencing over more of the frontage have been commenced but are not included within this application. Such works may impact on visibility splays and may not be supported. It is important that if the application is approved, the section of the fence which remains unauthorised is removed.
6.3 In terms of the impact of the fence on the internal use of the site, again the comments from DOI Highways are relied on. It is considered that the works may also increase the security of the site (due to lockable gates) and this would weigh in the application's favour.
6.4 In terms of the potential visual impact of the fence, given the current nature and appearance of the unit and the adjoining car park use, it is not considered that the visual impact would be unacceptable. The fence would screen the air conditioning units and so the visual impact of these is also not considered to be unacceptable.
6.5 The air condition units would be sited on the side of the building which faces a car park, and is not considered to be a sensitive use in terms of noise impact. The more sensitive use in terms of noise impact would be the residential apartments, but as these are on the other side of the building it is not considered that there will be an unacceptable impact.
CONCLUSION 7.1 It is considered that the proposals comply with the relevant Development Plan policies. No other material considerations have been identified. It is considered that some conditions are required for the avoidance of doubt. It is therefore considered that, irrespective of the use of the building, the fence is acceptable on its own merits.
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 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 : 16.07.2018
Determining officer
Signed : J CHANCE
Jennifer Chance
Director of Planning and Building Control
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