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19/01422/C Page 1 of 4
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 19/01422/C Applicant : The Salvation Army Proposal : Change of use of existing storage area, drivers mess and managers office to additional offices, lounge and general purpose room Site Address : British Red Cross Building Isle Of Man Business Park Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 2QZ
Head of Development Management: Mr S Butler Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 05.02.2020 __
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 use hereby approved shall only be in accordance with the details set out in the Supporting Sheet and Floor Plans date stamped as having been received 20.12.19.
Reason: The development hereby approved is only acceptable in this location because of the special circumstances of the proposal.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reasons(s): The overall proposed use is not significantly different from the existing use and it is noted that there is a mix of interlinked uses on the site and the unique operational requirements of the applicant may mean that finding a more centrally located site may be difficult. It is therefore considered that cumulatively the proposal is acceptable.
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19/01422/C Page 2 of 4
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This approval relates to the following plans/information all date stamped as having been received 20.12.19:
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
THIS APPLICATION IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE COMMITTEE AS IT IS A DEPARTURE FROM THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN BUT RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL
1.0 SITE 1.1 The application site comprises a detached two storey building with associated parking and landscaping within the Isle of Man Business Park, Braddan. The site has an approximate size of 2505 sq metres.
2.0 PROPOSAL 2.1 The application seeks approval to change use of the existing ground floor wheelchair storage area into a lounge linked to the small kitchen, convert the drivers mess area (currently part of the kitchen) into additional offices and the upper floor managers room and associated office into General Community Purposes Room. The proposed overall use of the site is given on the form as "Offices and operations headquarter".
2.2 The supporting statement notes that the Salvation Army's current headquarters in Lord Street was vacated as no longer fit or purpose given structural defects and they have since been temporarily located in a redundant school building at Tynwald Street, which is not available permanently. Rebuilding on their existing Lord Street site are unviable and in any case the lack of parking is a concern (Especially for elderly drop off centre users). They have examined a number of other sites and not been able to find any other suitable sites.
2.3 The existing British Red Cross headquarters would remain broadly as present but with the wheelchair storage converted to a lounge/seating area for use by those in the centre (not the general public), they would provide on-site Debt Advisory Counsellors and a Chaplaincy service. A training room would be retained as such. They would have a general multi-purpose room used for instance for sorting and distributing annual major toy appeal donations. Such initiatives require easy vehicular access. The site would also be suitable for their role in the Major Incident Response Plan.
2.4 An annex may be planned in the future, but this is not the subject of the current application.
3.0 USE CLASSES 3.1 Under the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2012 the existing use would perhaps fall into Class 4 (Office) as they would be offices not primarily serving customers (the application detail in relation to headquarters is noted, although there is no condition in relation to this). The proposed use would contain elements of Class 2 (-
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19/01422/C Page 3 of 4
Financial and professional services focused on serving vising customers) together with other elements which would be partly Class 6 (Storage and Distribution) and partly Sui Generis. It is arguable as to whether the overall use of the site would be Office (either Class 2 or 4) with the other elements being incidental, or whether it would be a mix of uses. However, generally, if an element of a scheme is Sui Generis then the whole scheme would be considered as such.
3.2 Under the new Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2019 the situation is similar with the office use potentially moving from Class 2.1 (Office) to Class 1.2 (Financial and professional services). The other elements may fall with Class 2.4 (Storage and Distribution) and partly Sui Generis.
3.3 Notwithstanding the above, Article 6 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2019 states, "(1) Any planning application received by the Department before this Order comes into operation is to be determined as if this Order had not been made". Therefore, the proposal should be assessed on the basis of the policies set out within this report and on the basis of being Sui Generis.
4.0 DEVELOPMENT PLAN POLICIES 4.1 The Braddan Local Plan shows the site to be within a business park. The Braddan Area plan highlights which uses are acceptable in this location, which include corporate headquarters
Strategic Policy 10 indicates development should seek to minimise journeys, especially by private car and make best use of public transport.
5.0 PLANNING HISTORY 5.1 The site was approved under 05/02094/B for, "Erection of HQ building for British Red Cross (IOM Branch) with associated parking and landscaping". The proposed use on the application form was "headquarters building".
5.2 This was for use as the HQ for the British Red Cross. The property was intended to provide office space as well as training rooms on the first floor of the proposal and mainly workshops and storage within the ground floor. The site would provide 23 car parking spaces (2 are disabled spaces) and 6 secure (2.4 metre high security fence with a green finish weld mesh) large vehicle spaces along with a large wash down area.
5.3 The assessment of that application noted,
"The Braddan Local Plan shows the site to be within a business park. The Braddan Area plan highlights which uses are acceptable in this location, which include corporate headquarters. The Training facilities would also seem to be appropriate due to the previous Planning Approval for training centre (03/00919/b). The size of the development and design would fit in well with the existing buildings within the business park and would certainly not look out of character".
6.0 CONSULTATIONS 6.1 Braddan Commissioners raise no objection (21.01.20).
6.2 DOI Highway Services have raised no objection (10.01.20).
7.0 ASSESSMENT
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7.1 The overall proposed use is not significantly different from the existing use and is not considered objectionable. However, there are elements of the proposal which will result in members of the public having to visit the site.
7.2 The Business Park was based on the premise that the operations would not attract day- to day-callers and any community facility/offices offering advice would be the opposite of that. There is a concern that the location would result in more journeys being made by car and make it harder for those without (or not wishing to use) a car to access the site.
7.3 However, it is noted that there is a mix of interlinked uses on the site and the unique operational requirements of the applicant may mean that finding a more centrally located site may be difficult. It is therefore considered that cumulatively the proposal is acceptable. 8.0 CONCLUSION 8.1 It is recommended that the application is approved but with a personal condition to the applicant as it has been recommended for approval against policy taking into account the unique circumstances of the applicant.
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: (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.
9.2 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 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:...17.02.2020
Signed :...S BUTLER... 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
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