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                                      19/01413/B                                     Page  1  of  4

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 19/01413/B Applicant : Mrs Carolyn Nicholson Proposal : Erection of an extension Site Address : Victoria House Nursery Victoria Road Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 4AJ

Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken : 13.02.2020 Site Visit : 13.02.2020 Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 17.02.2020 __

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. The extension may only be used to accommodate sleeping facilities for children registered with the existing nursery facility and for no other purpose.

Reason: to reflect what was proposed in the application.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reasons(s) The application is considered to accord with the relevant policies and is supported.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to drawing PA 001 received on 14th December, 2019. __

Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties should be given Interested Person Status as they are 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):

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10, Poplar Terrace as they satisfy all of the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status (July 2018). __

Officer’s Report

THE SITE 1.1 The site is the curtilage of an existing building which sits on the north western side of Victoria Road in between the former prison and a large dwelling, The Poplars on the other side along with the rear of Serendipity and The Orchard to the north of this whose rear boundaries abut the application site. To the rear there is the rear garden areas of 3-9, Poplar Terrace.

1.2 The building on the site is a handsome Victorian property with a hipped, slated roof, two tall brick chimneys on each end of the roof and mouldings above the sliding sash windows on the first floor, front elevation. The ground floor has a slate canopy across the frontage.

1.3 The property is used as a nursery (see Planning History).

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the extension of an outbuilding at the rear of the building which is presently used as a nursery. To the north east of the building is a row of conifers and shrubs and beyond this is a summer house.

2.2 The extension would add 2.4m by 5.1m with the ridge sitting 400m lower than the attached building's ridge level and the eaves would be level with those on the attached building. The proposal would add 9 sq m of floorspace which will be used for additional facilities associated with the nursery in the form of a sleep room which would accommodate four beds.

2.3 A supporting statement submitted with the application explains that the building to which the extension would be attached accommodates a baby room which accommodates children under 2. This was approved under 05/00651/B. The current numbers of 6 children and 2 staff will not change as a result of the sleep room. The facility will allow some children to sleep whilst others are playing.

2.4 The statement suggests that the building is not publicly visible and in any case is screened by the existing summer house which is used for children's play in wet weather. The existing hedges to the rear are to remain and as such, the impact on the neighbours, they consider, would be minimal. They suggest that the shrubs to be removed - fuchsia and conifers do not currently screen the building so their removal to make way for the extension would have no effect.

2.5 They explain that the property has ten parking bays to the front of the property and the proposal will have no impact on the number of people using or coming to the facility.

PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Douglas Local Plan and the draft Area Plan for the East as Residential. Although nurseries have their own use class (4.2 of the 2019 Order) they can be found in a range of different places including residential areas and indeed child minding for up to 6 children can happen in a residential property without planning approval (Class 6 of the Changes of Use No 2 Order of 2019). As such, the following parts of the Strategic Plan are relevant:

General Policy 2: "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:

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(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; (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".

"8.12.1 Extensions to Dwellings in built up areas or sites designated for residential use As a general policy, in built up areas not controlled by Conservation Area or Registered Building policies, there will be a general presumption in favour of extensions to existing property where such extensions would not have an adverse impact on either adjacent property or the surrounding area in general."

3.2 The Department has recently published the Residential Design Guidance (March 2019) which provides advice on the design of new houses and extensions to existing property as well as how to assess the impact of such development on the living conditions of those in adjacent residential property.

3.3 The property is not within a Conservation Area.

PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 planning approval was granted for the nursery use of the site under 04/02413/B and whilst a more recent application was submitted for the extension of the property, 10/01296/B, this was withdrawn before a decision was taken. There were a number of objections to this application on the basis of increase noise and nuisance to those in neighbouring properties.

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Highway Services have no objection to the application (07.01.20).

5.2 Douglas Borough Council have no objection to the application (09.01.20).

5.3 The owner of 10, Poplar Terrace objects to the application, stating that their property backs onto the site and that their upper floors overlook the application site. Any extension would adversely affect their aspect and any reduction or removal of trees would make the extension much more apparent. They also consider that they would be affected by noise (22.01.20).

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The issues in this case are whether the proposed extension would have any adverse visual impact on the character or appearance of the area or the living conditions of those in adjacent dwellings. Also, it should be considered whether the additional floor area would generate any additional disturbance which would affect the living conditions of those in adjacent property and finally, whether there would be any increase or change in the vehicular traffic generated by the proposed development.

6.2 The existing building is utilitarian in appearance and screened from public view. The proposed changes will therefore have no effect on the character or appearance of the area. The building is also not particularly close to adjacent residential property and in any case, the proposed extension is modest and lower than the existing building to which it will be attached. There will be no adverse impact on the living conditions from the proposed works.

6.3 The additional floorspace is to be used for a sleeping area for existing children at the premises and in any case is only 9 sq m in area which is not significant in terms of

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accommodating additional children. It is not considered that the additional floor area will cause any adverse impact on the living conditions of those in adjacent dwellings.

6.4 The extension will not generate any additional traffic or changes to the requirement for car parking on the site.

6.5 There is a substantial row of evergreen trees between the property and Poplar Terrace and these trees are not to be changed by the proposal. the trees which are to be removed sit to the north east of the building within the garden and their removal will not affect the properties behind at all.

CONCLUSION 7.1 The application is considered to accord with the relevant policies 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.

8.3 The Department of Environment Food and Agriculture is responsible for the determination of planning applications. As a result, where officers within the Department make comments in a professional capacity they cannot 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: 20.02.2020

Determining officer

Signed : C BALMER

Chris Balmer

Principal Planner

Customer note

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