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18/00526/B Page 1 of 7
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 18/00526/B Applicant : Fourtico Ltd Proposal : Sub division of existing units to create eight units with associated doors and use of unit 25 as a bakery (retrospective) Site Address : Unit's 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 & 26 Gladstone Park Industrial Estate Gladstone Way Ramsey Isle Of Man IM8 2LA
Principal Planner: Mr Chris Balmer Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 01.11.2018 __
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. All Units hereby approved may only be used for light industrial or research and development, as defined by the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2012, Schedule 4, Use Class Order, Class 5 or any future subsequent Permitted Development Order.
Reason: The overall estate has been designed for light industrial purposes only and the application does not seek to alter the use classes of the previously approval and therefore the application has been considered on this basis only.
C 3. No additional floorspace, including the creation of mezzanine flooring, may be created within any of the units other than the additional mezzanine flooring shown on drawing 0511/C100 REV F for Units 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 & 26.
Reason: To ensure that the buildings have appropriate levels of car parking available to them.
C 4. Within one month of this approval becoming final, a car parking plan is required to be submitted and approved by the Department which demonstrates 35 car parking spaces can be provided within Gladstone Park Industrial Estate and these are made available for use for these
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units within two months of this car parking plan be approved. These parking areas shall not be used for any purpose other than the parking and turning of vehicles associated with the development and shall remain free of obstruction for such use at all times.
Reason: To ensure that sufficient provision is made for off-street parking and turning of vehicles in the interests of highway safety.
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This approval relates to the submitted documents and drawings reference numbers 0511/C100, 0511/C100 REV F, 0511/C103 REV B, 0511/C102 REV B, 0511/C103 REV C, 0511/C101 REV F, 0511/C101 REV A received on 18th May 2018 and 5th September 2018.
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
1.0 SITE 1.1 The application site forms the curtilage of the Gladstone Park Industrial Estate in Ramsey. The site is located on the northern side of Gladstone Avenue and east of Ramsey Town Centre. The site has been developed, in that planning application 08/00059/B has commenced which gave approval for the demolition of Unit 1, alterations to existing units, creation of two site accesses and erection of five industrial units with associated parking and landscaping.
1.2 To the north of the site is the dismantled railway track and a large parcel of land indicated as light industrial use. East of the site is an area of existing industrial units, south is a large residential estate and to the west is a large existing industrial unit.
2.0 PROPOSAL 2.1 The application seeks approval for sub division of existing units to create eight units with associated doors and use of unit 25 as a bakery (retrospective).
3.0 PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site has been designated under the Ramsey Local Plan Order 1998 as being within an area of light industrial use; the site is not within a Conservation Area.
3.2 Within the adopted Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, the following policies are considered to be relevant in the determination of this application:
3.3 Strategic Policy 1 states: "Development should make the best use of resources by: (a) optimising the use of previously developed land, redundant buildings, unused and under- used land and buildings, and re-using scarce indigenous building materials; (b) ensuring efficient use of sites, taking into account the needs for access, landscaping, open space(1) and amenity standards; and (c) being located so as to utilise existing and planned infrastructure, facilities and services."
3.4 Strategic Policy 2 states: New development will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions(2) of these towns
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and villages. Development will be permitted in the countryside only in the exceptional circumstances identified in paragraph 6.3.
3.5 Strategic Policy 10 states: New development should be located and designed such as to promote a more integrated transport network with the aim to: (a) minimise journeys, especially by private car; (b) make best use of public transport; (c) not adversely affect highway safety for all users, and (d) encourage pedestrian movement
3.6 Spatial Policy 2 states: Outside Douglas development will be concentrated on the following Service Centres to provide regeneration and choice of location for housing, employment and services o Ramsey o Peel o Port Erin o Castletown o Onchan
Area Plans will define the development boundaries of such centres so as to provide a range of housing and employment opportunities at a scale appropriate to the settlement.
3.7 General Policy 2 states: 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: (a) is in accordance with the design brief in the Area Plan where there is such a brief; (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; (d) does not adversely affect the protected wildlife or locally important habitats on the site or adjacent land, including water courses; (e) does not affect adversely public views of the sea; (f) incorporates where possible existing topography and landscape features, particularly trees and sod banks; (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; (j) can be provided with all necessary services; (k) does not prejudice the use or development of adjoining land in accordance with the appropriate Area Plan; (l) is not on contaminated land or subject to unreasonable risk of erosion or flooding; (m) takes account of community and personal safety and security in the design of buildings and the spaces around them; and (n) is designed having due regard to best practice in reducing energy consumption.
3.8 Transport Policy 1 states: New development should, where possible, be located close to existing public transport facilities and routes, including pedestrian, cycle and rail routes.
3.9 Transport Policy 7 states: The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards.
The current standards are set out in Appendix 7.
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3.10 Business Policy 5 states: On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except where either: (a) the items to be sold could not reasonably be sold from a town centre location because of their size or nature; or (b) the items to be sold are produced on the site and their sale could not reasonably be severed from the overall business; and, in respect of (a) or (b), where it can be demonstrated that the sales would not detract from the vitality and viability of the appropriate town centre shopping area.
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 The following previous planning applications are considered relevant in the assessment and determination of this application:
4.2 Approval in principle for the demolition of unit 1, partial demolition and alterations to existing industrial units, erection of eight industrial units with new car parking and access arrangements - 06/01847/A - APPROVED
4.3 Demolition of Unit 1, alterations to existing units, creation of two site accesses and erection of five industrial units with associated parking and landscaping - 08/00059/B - APPROVED
4.4 The officer report for planning approval 08/00059/B stated, "The site is zoned within the Ramsey Local Plan as being an area zoned for predominately industrial use. The proposal would therefore comply with this land use zoning". Condition 5 states, "Insofar as it relates to new buildings, this permission is for the uses set out in Class 5 of Schedule 4 to the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2005; any proposals for other industrial uses should form the subject of separate applications"
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 The Ramsey Commissioners have no objection (02.07.2018).
5.2 DOI Highway Services make the following comments (19.06.2018): "The proposal is retrospective and would convert the existing 7 units (nos. 20 - 26) into 8 proposed units. However, the existing floor plan (drawing no. 0511/C100) and existing elevations plan (drawing no. 0511/C101 revision A) show only 5 existing units. The proposed floor plan (drawing no. 0511/C100 revision F) shows 11 units (nos. 20 to 30) which is the same floor area as the 5 existing units shown on the existing floor plan (drawing no. 0511/C100). The applicant therefore needs to clarify how many existing units would be/have been converted, confirm if there are 8 or 11 proposed units and provide amended plans and a revised application description accordingly. The plans should clearly show which units are applicable to this application and which units are existing and not part of this development as necessary. New mezzanine floors are proposed for all the units including unit 25 which would be used as a bakery. A roller shutter door and a pedestrian door would be provided for each of the 8 proposed units according to the proposed elevations plan (drawing no. 0511/C101 revision F). As there are different drawings with the same drawing numbers but different revision numbers, it is requested that a full set of new drawings is provided by the applicant to avoid confusion and therefore prevent associated delays to application responses as a result. The proposed mezzanine floor areas are not shown on a proposed first floor plan which should be provided. The scale of the proposed site plan (drawing no. 0511/C103 revision B) appears to be incorrect as stated.
The application states that for unit 25, the bakery would operate on the ground floor with staff and storage facilities on the mezzanine floor above. The applicant estimates that the bakery would accommodate up to 3 staff at any given time, it would have approximately 6 deliveries
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per week (2 to the site and 4 from the site) and no customers would visit the site. The bakery would operate between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday.
There would be no changes to the existing site access arrangements, with the 2 existing site accesses onto Gladstone Way retained. The parking standards in 'The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016' state "Where mezzanine levels are proposed after the buildings have been completed, the Department may require additional car parking if additional levels of use would result from the additional space proposed." The car parking standard for light industrial use is 1 space per 30sqm which is the approved use of the site according to the correspondence from the Planning Department dated 23/11/17 submitted with the application.
The existing and proposed site parking demand cannot be assessed at present due to the confusion regarding the number of existing and proposed units as described above. This will have a direct impact on the existing and proposed floor areas and therefore the level of site parking needed. The applicant needs to confirm the floor area of the existing units being converted, and the proposed floor area of the converted units including the additional floor space for the new mezzanine floor areas. Highway Services will then be able to calculate the existing and proposed site parking demand based on the 1 space per 30sqm parking standard.
The applicant needs to provide an existing site plan and a proposed site plan to show the existing and proposed site parking provision. The parking spaces that are specifically dedicated to the units that form part of this application should be identified on these plans, and if the site parking is shared use for the whole industrial estate then this should be confirmed by the applicant. If this is the case, then Highway Services will need to examine the parking demand and provision for the whole industrial estate and take account of the vacant units which will incur a future parking demand.
Highway Services request that the application is deferred to allow the applicant to consider the above.
Recommendation: DEFER"
6.0 ASSESSMENT/RECOMMENDATION 6.1 Material Planning matters which need to be considered regarding this application include:- 1. Land use zoning; 2. Parking provisions; 3. Impact upon the amenities of the neighbouring properties; and 4. Appearance upon the street scene
Land use zoning 6.2 The site is zoned within the Ramsey Local Plan as being an area zoned for "Light Industrial" use. The application form describes the existing use as "General Industrial" and the proposed use as "Bakery and General Industrial" (pre-application advice was provided which indicates that the bakery use is considered capable of being a light industrial use). The letter from the applicant dated 05.09.18 states, "The units are general industrial and not light industrial...". However it is noted that a condition attached to the existing approval restricts the use to light industrial or research and development. Therefore any existing general industrial use would be unlawful. The application seeks approval for the physical changes to subdivide the units and the use as a bakery (the latter arguably not constituting development). No approval is sought for a change of use or for the removal of the condition. The application as submitted is therefore in effect for the subdivision and continued light industrial use and as such would be in accordance with the land use zoning,. It is noted that the Strategic Plan at 9.2.3 provides definitions of "light industrial building" and "general industrial building" and that since the last application, the General Permitted Development Order (which includes the use
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classes) has been updated. Therefore, if approval is given it would be sensible to re-impose a restriction on use which relates to the most recent Use Classes.
Parking provisions / access arrangements 6.3 Under the Isle of Man Strategic Plan - Parking Standards (appendix 7), 1 space per 30 square metres gross floor space is required for light industrial, research and development and 1 space per 50 square metres gross floor space for General Industrial.
6.4 The existing parking coupled with the proposed parking provisions would provide a total of 128 spaces. Before the development of the 08/00059/B (5 units) application there was a total of 58 parking spaces. Therefore there was an increase in parking spaces of 70 spaces; however, of these 17 were lost as a result of the new units being built on top of these original parking spaces, leaving a total of 27 spaces. However, the applicant has explained that a further 30 spaces have been added since within the site.
6.5 Considering the 8 light industrial units (total floor area of 858sqm), this equates to a requirement of 28 parking spaces (858/30=28.6). Accordingly, a total of 28 parking spaces are required by this sole development. This is provided within the site, namely by the 24 spaces fronting and to the side of the new industrial building and additional spaces within the estate. It should be noted that the last application approved under 08/00059/B equates to the same floor area, as the overall footprint and size of the building is the same, only five units have been now proposed to be 8 smaller units. Accordingly, given the previous approval, it would now seem unreasonable to refuse the application on this ground as none of the parking standards have changed. The main difference is the inclusion of Mezzanine floors (potentially they could have been installed under the units in the last application without a planning application being made) are proposed in five of the 8 units and this equates to an additional 217sqm in floor area. As this additional floor area is used in association with light industrial usage this equate to 7 additional parking spaces (217/30=7.2). Accordingly, a total of 35 car parking spaces could be required by this development (7+28=35) as per paragraph A 7.3 of the IOMSP, which comments that mezzanine levels may require additional parking if additional; levels of use would result from the additional space proposed. Therefore the 24 spaces created would be able to accommodate (as previously approved) the parking requirement for some of these units and additional parking can be provided throughout the remainder of the site (conditioned). Comments from Highway Services are noted, and the concerns seems to be lack of clarity and confusion. However, following additional information by the application and considering the history of the site, the Department is satisfied with the proposal from a parking perspective. It should also be noted, that the applicant is the owner of the entire industrial estate and it is in their own interest to ensure adequate parking provision is in place. Further, there is scope within the site to expand parking if required. Overall, it is considered that adequate parking is in place to serve this development.
Impact upon the amenities of the neighbouring properties. 6.6 The erection of the 8 units, which are accommodated within the same building as the previously approved five light industrial units will have the same impact, especially along the western boundary through loss of light upon the neighbouring property to the west of the site. However, this is not a major concern, given that these units are industrial units and not residential; additionally, due to the distance between the units which would be approximately 11 metres, it is consider the proposal would not have any significant impacts to warrant a refusal.
Appearance upon the street scene 6.7 The proposals will have a very similar impact as the original approved 5 units, which at that time where considered to have a vast visual improvement to the site, which originally, looking old and tired, the proposals to the main block of industrial units and the proposed landscaping along the southern boundary, adjacent to the public highway, will both be beneficial to the visual appearance of the street scene and upon the site itself.
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7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 The proposal will improve the appearance, how the site is used, access, parking and provide additional industrial units and for these reasons the proposals would seem appropriate in these locations and therefore the application is recommended is for an approval.
8.0 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 Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.
Decision Made : Permitted Date : 05.12.2018
Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER
Stephen Butler
Head of Development Management
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