Officer Report

Application No.: 18/00759/B Applicant: Gecko Investments Ltd Proposal: Removal of chimneys between 65 & 67 and 67 & 69 Parliament Street (retrospective) Site Address: Victoria Mall Parliament Street Ramsey Isle Of Man IM8 1AZ Principal Planner: Mr Chris Balmer Photo Taken: 04.10.2018 Site Visit: 04.10.2018 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 09.10.2018 _________________________________________________________________

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the submitted documents and drawing all received on 20th July 2018. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is the Victorian Mall (Nr 63) and no 67 Parliament Street. The buildings where the chimneys are form part of the terrace from 39 - 71 Parliament Street. The terrace and the application buildings are four storey Victorian buildings with predominantly shops at the ground floor and residential and other uses on floors 1 - 3. - 1.2 Until recently the properties had a number of chimneys. The chimneys sit either side of the pitch and have quite a high stack when viewed from either side, to the front and to the rear of the property (in and around the area of the Victoria Mall Car Park.

1.2 The red line also includes the rear part of the Victorian Mall, although from the images supplied none of the chimneys are on the rear part. - 2.0 THE PROPOSAL

2.1 The planning application seeks the approval for the complete removal of the 7 chimney stacks and pots down to roof level and extend the roof over, as part of the re-roofing of the buildings. - 3.0 PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 The planning history mainly relates to changes of use, signage and new shop fronts, none of which are considered relevant in the consideration of this application.

3.2 In the wider area the following applications are considered relevant;

09/02080/B - Removal of five chimney stacks and rendering works, 34 Parliament Street - REFUSED for the following reason;

"The removal of the chimney stacks would be contrary to General Policy 2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2007 in that the removal of the prominent chimney stacks would not preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and have a detrimental impact upon the visual amenities of the locality."

• 14/00284/B - Conversion of dwelling to provide two apartments including removal of chimney stacks and installation of replacement windows, 54 Parliament Street - APPROVED. The chimney to be removed was considered to be the lesser of the two with the main one remaining and its removal was considered to not have a significant visual impact.
• 15/00699/B - Alterations to building including replacement shop front, windows and roof work, creation of self-contained apartment and removal of chimney stack, 80 Parliament Street APPROVED. The chimney was considered not to provide an especially important feature on the building and nor is the building set within a row of other buildings with such robust stacks. It was considered that a refusal on this ground alone would not be appropriate.

- 4.0 PLANNING POLICY

4.1 In terms of local plan policy, the application site is located within an area designated as being in an area of "Mixed use Town centre" Ramsey Local Plan 1998. The site is not within a Conservation Area.

4.2 In terms of strategic plan policy, the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains one policy that is considered specifically relevant to the assessment of this current planning application:

4.2 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:

• (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;

- 5.0 REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 DOI Highways - comment there are no highway implications. 16.08.2018. 5.2 Ramsey Town Commissioners - no objection. 24.08.2018 6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 Given the nature of the planning application and development proposed, the two issues are the impact of the removal of the existing chimney stacks on the existing appearance of the building, the row of buildings and on the wider surrounding area.

6.2 This part of Parliament Street is a traditional terrace dating back to the Victorian era, which forms part of the Victorian Mall. Each of the properties of this terrace has a pair of individual chimney stacks, one to the front roof plane and a second of the same or similar size and design to

the rear roof plane. The chimney stacks of the properties are uniform throughout this part of Parliament and add to the character to this terrace. Previously, it was considered whilst the application site is not a Registered Building or within a Conservation Area, the removal of the chimney stacks would be a loss to the existing buildings which is considered to be detrimental to the existing appearance of the buildings and the terrace, especially when viewed from Parliament Street. However, this application proposes to retain the two of four chimneys apparent from Parliament Street, which is arguably the most important view of the traditional properties/terrace. While not all the chimneys would be retained, arguable the ones to Nr 63 are more apparent and add to the property, which is arguable the most attractive and decorative building in the terrace, compared to Nr 69. The chimneys, also are not the most prominent feature in the street scene given their position setback into the roof and the limited angled views, given the height of the buildings in relation to the highway. Therefore while the loss of some of the chimneys is unfortunate, it is considered the more important chimneys are being retained.

6.3 Views to the rear of the site (Co-Op car park) has been affected by the removal of the chimneys albeit, a number of the neighbouring properties have already lost their chimneys to the rear, which is generally regarded as the less important aspect. In this case some chimneys have been repaired and retained, which again is more positive than the previous application where all the chimneys to the properties were proposed to be removed. - 6.4 Overall, it is concluded that the planning application does accord to the provisions set out in General Policy 2 (b), (c) and (g) of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.

- 7.0 RECOMMENDATION

7.1 Given the above, it is recommended that the application be approved. 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 : 12.10.2018 Determining officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

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