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PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 18/00544/B Applicant : Coole Farms Ltd Proposal : Construction of a slurry lagoon Site Address : Ballamodha Moar Field 431382 Ballamodha Straight Ballasalla Isle Of Man IM9 3EL

Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken : 21.06.2018 Site Visit : 21.06.2018 Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 03.07.2018 __

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 decision relates to drawings A, B, C and D all received on 22nd May, 2018.

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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

Officer’s Report

THE SITE 1.1 The site is an agricultural holding situated on the eastern side of the A3 Ballamodha Road. The farm accommodates a group of farm buildings - the farmhouse and agricultural outbuildings and the holding extends some 600m to the north and 1.7km to the south with a further area of farmed land to the south of that.

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1.2 The plan suggests that the adjacent property, Ballamodha Beg is also within the ownership or control of the applicant. Previous applications for that property would suggest it is not.

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the construction of a slurry lagoon in a field some 130m to the southwest of the farm buildings. The lagoon will be created alongside an existing field hedge and will have an area of 32m by 95m with sloped sides at around 45 degrees surrounded by a new bund which is up to 6m in height and constructed from material cut and filled from the excavation of the lagoon.

2.2 The applicant explains in supporting information provided by an agent, that the farm extends to 370 acres of which 65 are cropped and the remainder are in grass supporting around 180 dairy cattle and 200 head of following young stock. Presently, slurry is stored in three underground tanks with a total capacity of 370 cubic metres. This provides 7-10 days' storage depending upon the amount of stock and rainfall. In peak winter times the tanks are emptied every week. The tanks are emptied onto the most suitable and accessible land and by tractor and tanker. Weather conditions are increasingly resulting in the land not being suitable for having the slurry spread on it and damage can be caused by the tanker and tractor. In such cases the nutrient value of the slurry is not realised. Emptying the tanks takes a full day. The proposed lagoon will provide 6 months' storage over the winter, will reduce potential damage to the ground and result in improved targeting of nutrients on the land, reduced risk of pollution and improved labour utilisation through the winter. The existing tanks are to be retained and in total the amount of storage will be around 2884 cubic metres - more than the estimated 6 months' production.

2.3 The proposed location was chosen as it is relatively central for the spreading of the material and not adjacent to the public footpath and slurry will be pumped from the existing tanks to the lagoon as and when required using existing pumps. The lagoon will be lined with 2mm of geo-membrane by suppliers familiar with this type of work.

2.4 The lagoon will be 30m from the nearest watercourse.

PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Area Plan for the South adopted in 2013 as not for any particular purpose and just within an area where there are height restrictions due to the proximity to the airport. There is a general presumption against development here as set out in the Strategic Plan General Policy 3 and Environment Policy 1 although there is provision in the former for development which is agriculturally justified. Further guidance is provided in EP 15 as follows:

"Where the Department is satisfied that there is agricultural or horticultural need for a new building (including a dwelling), sufficient to outweigh the general policy against development in the countryside, and that the impact of this development including buildings, accesses, servicing etc. is acceptable, such development must be sited as close as is practically possible to existing building groups and be appropriate in terms of scale, materials, colour, siting and form to ensure that all new developments are sympathetic to the landscape and built environment of which they will form a part.

Only in exceptional circumstances will buildings be permitted in exposed or isolated areas or close to public highways and in all such cases will be subject to appropriate landscaping. The nature and materials of construction must also be appropriate to the purposes for which it is intended.

Where new agricultural buildings are proposed next to or close to existing residential properties, care must be taken to ensure that there is no unacceptable adverse impact through

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any activity, although it must be borne in mind that many farming activities require buildings which are best sited, in landscape terms, close to existing building groups in the rural landscape."

3.2 Whilst this policy specifically refers to buildings, it is taken that this includes all structures, including what is proposed here which perhaps is more along the lines of engineering operations, for which there are no specific policies. There are policies which are concerned with potential pollution and environmental impact as follows:

Environment Policy 22: "Development will not be permitted where it would unacceptably harm the environment and/or the amenity of nearby properties in terms of:

i) pollution of sea, surface water or groundwater; ii) emissions of airborne pollutants; and iii) vibration, odour, noise or light pollution."

PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 The site has been the subject of a number of applications for agricultural buildings, all approved.

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Highway Services do not object (27.06.18).

5.2 Malew Parish Commissioners have no objection (04.07.18).

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The proposal is unlikely to be seen from any public perspective due to the proposed mounding and planting and will be of considerable benefit to the environment and this particular agricultural operation. There is unlikely to be any significant smell impact as the material will only release an odour when moved but the slurry would be moved and spread on the land anyway when stored in the existing tanks so there should be no change in the impact from the existing situation.

CONCLUSION 7.1 The proposal is considered to be in accordance with the general objectives of the Strategic Plan 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: 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.

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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.

Decision Made : Permitted

Date: 04.07.2018

Determining officer

Signed : C BALMER

Chris Balmer

Principal Planner

Customer note

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