109979

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                                      18/00804/C                                     Page  1  of  4

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 18/00804/C Applicant : Colby AFC Proposal : Additional use of part of football grounds as campsite for TT, Festival of Motorcycling and Southern 100 periods Site Address : Colby AFC Clubhouse Main Road Colby Isle Of Man IM9 4LR

Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken :

Site Visit :

Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 24.08.2018 __

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. No approval is hereby granted or implied to any extension of the times of the illumination of the lighting or the use of the clubhouse approved on the site under 11/01781/B and 10/01871/B respectively.

Reason: to ensure that the operation of the campsite does not result in any adverse impact on the living conditions of those in the adjacent residential properties.

C 3. The camp site may be available for use no earlier than the day before the first practice associated with the TT, Southern 100 and Manx Grand Prix/Festival of Motorcycling races and up to the day after the last race in each case: the camp site may be erected within three days before this and taken down within three days after this with the site available for recreation uses in between those events and times.

Reason: to ensure that the camp site is an incidental use of the site which should remain available for recreation purposes.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

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This permission relates to drawings P.2039-PA/01, P.2039-PA/02 and P.2039.PA/03 all received on 1st August, 2018.

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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

Officer’s Report

THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSED USE IS CONTRARY TO THE LAND USE DESIGNATION

THE SITE 1.1 The site is the curtilage of Colby AFC, which lies on the southern side of the A7 main road which runs through Colby from Ballabeg to Ballafesson and Port Erin. The site accommodates a clubhouse and various playing pitches including an artificial pitch and flood lighting. Access is via a lane which meets the main road to the south east of the Colby Glen public house and crosses the steam railway line before turning westwards to meet the car park and clubhouse. The pitches lie to the south of this.

1.2 Planning permission was granted for the pitches and clubhouse in the 2000s as a replacement for smaller grounds on Glen Road which were subsequently developed for housing (Croit ny Glionney).

1.3 Planning permission has also been granted for the temporary use of the pitches for camping in association with the TT, Southern 100 and Festival of Motorcycling events (see planning history).

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the continued use of the site for camping in association with the TT race fortnight and Festival of Motorcycling but in addition, the Southern 100 racing event which is held in early July. In addition, they wish to increase the number of tents accommodated on the site from 74 to 100 and they have identified emergency access routes to reflect the increased number of people on site. These routes are either side of the artificial pitch and pedestrian emergency access provided immediately alongside the western side of that pitch. Further accesses from the tented area are available to move to the areas to the west and east of the pitches, to the west are more pitches and to the east is an agricultural field.

2.2 The camping will take place on the grass pitches to the south of the artificial pitch as with the earlier approval.

PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site is designated as Open Space for Particular Purposes - Playing Fields. The use of the site for the majority of the year will remain as recreation and the camping is organised through the football club and raises funds for them. The camping is therefore associated with the main lawful use of the site.

3.2 There are no Strategic Plan policies which guide tourist related developments other than those which encourage the use of existing buildings (EP16). The Plan also contains a policy which presumes against the loss of recreational facilities (RP2). However, it is generally accepted that where there is a need for camping facilities in association with particular events on the Island, temporary camp sites can be acceptable, and this has been particularly successful on sports pitches: Douglas Rugby Club, Ballafletcher rugby, football and cricket

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                                      18/00804/C                                     Page  3  of  4

grounds, Union Mills FC, Castletown FC, Foxdale AFC, Peel AFC, Rushen FC and Laxey AFC all operate temporary pitches.

PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 14/00036/C was approved for the temporary use of the site for camping subject to the following conditions:

C 1. This approval relates to the use of the site as a camp site as shown in drawings RD1A, "A", and the illustrations all received on 13th January, 2014.

C 2. The camp site may be available for use no earlier than the day before the first practice associated with the TT and Manx Grand Prix/Festival of Motorcycling races and up to the day after the last race and the camp site may be erected within three days before this and taken down within three days after this.

C 3. No approval is hereby granted or implied to any extension of the times of the illumination of the lighting approved on the site under PA 11/01781.

C 4. The site may be used in accordance with this approval up until the end of Manx Grand Prix/Festival of Motorcycling 2017. Any use of the site as hereby approved after that time must first be authorised by way of a further planning approval.

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Arbory Parish Commissioners support the application (24.08.18).

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The existing campsite has been operated without any known issues and provide accommodation which is clearly needed to accommodate visitors who come to the Island for the various motorcycling events. The fact that there is a clubhouse which offers toilet, shower and catering facilities enhances the attractiveness of sports facilities such as this to be used for camping.

6.2 There are no objections to the application and the local authority are in support.

CONCLUSION 7.1 The application is considered to support the local sports club and will not significantly or adversely affect the provision of sports facilities: whilst some of the pitches may be unavailable for recreational use, the income from the use will be available for re-investing in the club, its facilities and members and is therefore considered acceptable subject to conditions relating to times of use.

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.

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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 confirm that this decision has been made by the Planning Committee in accordance with the authority afforded to it under the appropriate delegated authority.

Decision Made : Permitted

Committee Meeting Date: 03.09.2018

Signed : S CORLETT Presenting Officer

Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report/condition reason was required (included as supplemental paragraph to the officer report).

Signatory to delete as appropriate YES/NO See below

Customer note

This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.