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Application No.: 18/00882/B Applicant: Mr Christopher & Mrs Sonia Kelly Proposal: Conversion and extension of existing single garage to provide additional living accommodation ancillary to existing property Site Address: Cronk Breck Bernahara Road Andreas Isle Of Man IM7 3HH Planning Officer: Mr Nick Salt Photo Taken: 23.10.2018 Site Visit: 23.10.2018 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 11.10.2018 _________________________________________________________________
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
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.
Reason: To ensure proper control of the development and to avoid any future undesirable fragmentation of the curtilage.
It is recommended that the following organisation should not be given Interested Person Status as they are not considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 6(4):
The owner/occupier of Ballachurry Farm Cottage, Bernahara, Andreas, IM7 3HH as they do not own or occupy property that is within 20m of the application site and the development is not automatically required to be the subject of an EIA by Appendix 5 of the Strategic Plan, in accordance with paragraph 2B of the Policy and they have not explained how the development would impact the lawful use of land owned or occupied by them and in relation to the relevant issues identified in paragraph 2C of the Policy, as is required by paragraph 2D of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status July 2018. _____________________________________________________________________________
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE DUE TO THE PROPOSAL BEING; (A) SUBJECT TO AN OBJECTION FROM AN EMPLOYEE OF THE PLANNING AND BUILDING CONTROL DIRECTORATE, AS SET OUT IN PART 3(i) OF DEFA STANDING ORDER NO. 2018/01, (B) CONTRARY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN.
1.0 THE SITE - 1.1 The site is the residential curtilage of 'Cronk Breck', Bernahara Road. The site is situated in open countryside to the north east of St. Jude's and south of Andreas village. There are two other properties in the vicinity; Ballachurry Farm and Birds Croft. - 1.2 The buildings and the site generally are well hidden from view, the top of the house is partly visible from the surrounding highways through some vegetation. - 1.3 The main dwelling feature a number of car ports to the east, and a small garage adjoined to these ports, with a workshop and store further again to the east. The presence of several of these outbuildings creates a partially enclosed complex.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 The proposal is the conversion of single garage via an extension to create a onebedroomed residential apartment for domestic staff. - 2.2 The walls would be rendered and finished white to match the main dwelling on the site, with the roof finished in slate also to match. Windows are proposed to be timber sliding sash, finished in grey to match the main dwelling, with 100mm wide external banding. The eastern elevation is proposed to feature 5 high-level windows, and the west elevation 3 windows to match the main dwelling. Sliding glazed doors are proposed for the south elevation. - 2.3 Additional floor space of around 125 sq. metres would be added, with the staff accommodation adjoined to the main dwelling structure via a car port. The additional living accommodation would include a kitchen/dining area and lounge as well as the en-suite bedroom.
3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 The following previous planning applications are considered specifically material to the current proposal:
3.2 The main dwelling on the site was approved under 09/01011/B and 10/00216/B and further alterations and extensions approved under 12/01362/B, 12/01363/B, 13/00311/B, 14/01002B and 15/00820/B. The car ports and storage buildings were approved under 13/00306B, and 14/00638/B. An application for a temporary access track and building was refused under PA 12/00582/B. - 3.3 PA 16/00963/B for the erection of a replacement helicopter hangar and extensions was approved by the Planning Committee at its meeting of 11th October, 2016 subject to conditions including the removal of the containers once the existing hangar is available for such use. 16/01144/B was a retrospective application for the construction of a drainage lake which was approved.
4.1 In terms of land use designation the application site is not designated for any site specific purpose under the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Provisional Order 1982. - 4.2 The Isle Of Man Strategic Plan 2016 sets out a number of strategic plan which relate to this proposal. 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 and villages. Development will be permitted in the countryside only in the exceptional circumstances identified in paragraph 6.3." - 4.3 As referenced by Strategic Policy 2, it important to consider General Policy 3 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 in assessing this application. General Policy 3 (GP2) states; "Development will not be permitted outside of those areas which are zoned for development on the appropriate Area Plan with the exception of:
4.4 Housing Policy 4 outlines general policy in respect of the location of new housing. "New housing will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions(1) of these towns and villages where identified in adopted Area Plans: otherwise new housing will be permitted in the countryside only in the following exceptional circumstances:
4.5 Housing Policy 11 sets out what is acceptable in terms of the conversion or rural buildings into dwellings. "Conversion of existing rural buildings into dwellings may be permitted, but only where:
4.6 Environment Policy 1 states: "The countryside and its ecology will be protected for its own sake. For the purposes of this policy, the countryside comprises all land which is outside the settlements defined in Appendix 3 at A.3.6 or which is not designated for future development on an Area Plan. Development which would adversely affect the countryside will not be permitted unless there is an over-riding national need in land use planning terms which outweighs the requirement to protect these areas and for which there is no reasonable and acceptable alternative." - 4.7 Finally, Transport Policy 7 must be considered as the proposal includes the removal of garage space and amplification of residential use on the site. It states; "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards." These standards would require a total minimum of 3 car parking spaces on the site.
5.1 Highways Services do not oppose the current proposal (25th September 2018). - 5.2 Andreas Parish Commissioners have no objections (11th September 2018). - 5.3 The resident of Ballachurry Farm Cottage objects to the proposal, and feels that the proposal should be considered in conjunction with planning application 18/00894/B (25th September 2018).
6.1 The main issues which must be assessed in regard to this proposal are private and public amenity which may be affected. Public and visual amenity - 6.2 Firstly, it is noted that the location of the proposal is relatively screened and sheltered from public view and from the view of neighbours due to its rural location and distance from the highway and its distance from the nearby properties of Ballachurry Farm to the east and Birds Croft to the South west. As previously stated, the proposal would be within the same 'complex' as the main dwelling and existing car ports and storage areas. The current garage would be extended to the south, which would follow the line of the current workshop and store to the east. The extension would be shielded from view due to the presence of this workshop and fencing between the two, and due to the height of the main dwelling.
6.3 Furthermore, the plans propose that the extension would be finished in white render and with grey timber frame windows and slates to match the existing main dwelling. It is not likely that it would appear alien or out of place on the site. - 6.4 The impact on public amenity is not regarded to be an issue in this case. It is important however to consider the private amenity of the site and the principle of its use. Principle of development - 6.5 The main issue with the proposal is whether the accommodation proposed would be tantamount to the creation of a new dwelling in the countryside, or can it be considered to be used as ancillary accommodation to the main dwelling house. - 6.6 The garage extension is proposed as 'ancillary to' the main dwelling in that its resident/s would be in the employ of the owners of the main dwelling and that their employment would relate directly to the site. Ancillary in planning terms means that the said building is used by and for the people of the main property, in a secondary manner and that the whole planning unit (including the additional building) remains as a single unit of accommodation. This does not allow for an entirely independent property 'ancillary' to another, except rare occasions for staff. When considering any application for ancillary usage (residential, office, commercial etc.) the following is worth considering. First, a severability test, and second, an environmental impact test. Applying the first test, one would ask whether the alleged ancillary use could practically and viably operate on its own were the primary use of the premises to cease. If it could, then the use is very unlikely to be ancillary as there is clearly no linkage or dependency. The second test would look to any outward effects of the use, in terms of the appearance of the premises, the amenity of the surrounding area or neighbourhood traffic conditions. If it could be shown that there would be a significantly greater impact following from the introduction of the alleged ancillary activity than one could reasonably expect from the existing use, then it is unlikely that the use could be so described. - 6.7 The size of the proposed living area generally (over 125 sq. metres), is above that which would generally be seen as the acceptable minimum limit in that the occupier would enjoy reasonable residential amenity and privacy, with all necessary services within. However, from the plans submitted, it is evident that both access and parking would be shared with the main dwelling on the site. The extended garage conversion would also be physically adjoined to the main dwelling by means of the car port structure, and sits well within close proximity of the main dwelling. - 6.8 As it cannot clearly be proven that the proposal could operate entirely separate to the main dwelling, and as its purpose would be ancillary to the use of the site, the proposal meets the requirements of these tests and cannot be refused on grounds of unacceptable development in the countryside. Parking - 6.9 With regard to on-site parking, the proposal site meets the criteria of the Department's car parking standards which require 2 spaces for any dwelling of 2 or more bedrooms and 1 for a single bedroom. In this case, 3 spaces would then be the general requirement. As noted by Highways Services in their comment on 25th September 2018, the site has ample space for parking and the removal and conversion of the current garage space would not result in an unacceptable loss of parking. In this respect, the proposal does not conflict with Transport Policy 7. Environmental impact - 6.10 Given the level of current development on this site, and the proposal's positioning adjoining the car ports and close to a storage building, it is regarded to comply with Environmental Policy 1 as it would not unacceptably harm the environment or the nature of the site's countryside location. The use of staff vehicles may be reduced if staff were to live on site, reducing usage of the main road and private car.
7.1 It is noted that the owner/occupier of Ballachurry Farm Cottage, across the field from the application site, has requested that the proposal be considered in conjunction with planning application 18/00894/B. This is however not a material planning consideration and does not form part of the assessment. - 8.0 CONCLUSION
8.1 On balance, whilst there is a policy presumption against the erection of any new dwelling in the countryside, the proposal could likely be regarded as ancillary to the main property as it would house staff for the main dwelling. Given the likely access and parking arrangements, and the low impact of the proposal visually and environmentally, it meets the requirements of policy and is recommended for approval, subject to conditions - 9.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS
9.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013 Article 6(4), the following persons are automatically interested persons:
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: 29.10.2018
Signed : N SALT Presenting Officer
Further to the decision of the Committee an additional report/condition reason was required (included as supplemental paragraph to the officer report).
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