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Project Address:
Belmont Lewaigue Road Dreemskerry Maughold
Date:
2nd September 2015
2000061
Photograph I Belmont Southern Entrance ..... 4 Photograph II Belmont Rear Face ..... 5 Photograph III Belmont Northwest Corner ..... 5 Photograph IV Belmont Internal Damage ..... 6 Photograph V Belmont Retaining Wall ..... 6
Photograph VI Modena View ..... 7 Photograph VII Dreemskerry Farm ..... 7 Photograph VIII Glen Lodge ..... 8 Photograph IX Sea View Taken From the Southern Entrance of Belmont ..... 8 Photograph X Sea View ..... 9 Photograph XI Tram View 1 ..... 9 Photograph XII Tram View 2 ..... 10
Photograph XIII Dreemskerry View North Entrance ..... 11
APPENDIX I Photograph The Spinney ..... 15 APPENDIX II Photograph Dreemskerry Cottage ..... 15 APPENDIX III Photograph Caardee Rear View ..... 16 APPENDIX IV Photograph Caardee Side View ..... 16 APPENDIX V Photograph Homefield ..... 17 APPENDIX VI Photograph Summerhill ..... 17 APPENDIX VII Photograph Dreemskerry Lodge ..... 18 APPENDIX VIII Photograph Burley ..... 18 APPENDIX IX Photograph Geay Vooar ..... 19
Acting on behalf of Mr \& Mrs Barnett, Progeny Ltd have conducted this Planning Statement in support of the replacement dwelling and new, improved vehicular access to Belmont, Lewaigue Road, Dreemskerry, Maughold.
Due to flooding over many years along the Lewaigue Road, the existing house is suffering from subsidence and it has been determined that it would not be economical to repair in its present state. For this reason our clients have opted to replace the existing building which is of poor form, with a modern dwelling and new vehicular access. We believe that the proposed building will fit into the locality well, more so than the existing dwelling which has been extended over the years without any continuity of styling or sympathetic consideration to its setting.
Set in approximately three acres of land, the proposed building has a dual aspect with the front and sides of the building being a classical country manor design, styled to give an elegant feel and the impression that this was the original building which the hamlet has been built around. The rear however has a contemporary design with large glass windows and balconies (similar to some neighbouring properties). It is also sympathetic to the topography of the landscape with an overhanging roof and tiers to create two balconies without causing loss of light to the lower floors. This also takes full advantage of the privacy and the views of the valley to the rear. The new design has a smaller frontage, is 4.6 m further away from the road and is the same height as the existing building to maintain the building's low impact on the valley views from the road.
The scheme also provides a new safe and useable means of vehicular access with greater visibility and reduced slope in order to minimise the risk of an accident, and to eliminate the risk of further flooding to the new dwelling. The client in conjunction with the highways department will look to add additional drainage to the road to divert the flood water into their field to prevent any flooding to the neighbouring properties from the redirected water.
In summary this is an excellent opportunity to replace a somewhat disjointed dwelling of poor form with a new dwelling constructed to modern environmental standards that will be more fitting for the environment and location in which it is situated.
The existing building is approximately 17.5 m from the road, down a steep hillside. It has two existing driveways with $20 \%$ ( 1 in 5 ) slopes that meet in front of the dwelling. Due to the split level, the dwelling from the roadside has the appearance of being 2 storeys whilst the rear is 3 storeys with two integral garages at ground level with storage beneath. The building is approximately 24.5 m long $\times 8.2 \mathrm{~m}$ wide at the widest points with a total height of 10.2 m giving a total floor area of $342 \mathrm{~m}^{2}$.
The building was originally constructed in 1948 but the original appearance and style has been lost over the years due to various extensions and alterations conducted in the 1970's. The various extensions and alterations carried out over the years have resulted in a poor internal layout which is both impractical and awkward to use. The building is currently an eyesore of mismatching and conflicting styles, with an unsightly large area of flat roof and mismatched areas such as the pitched roofs, where tiles altering in both style and colour are visible from the roadside to anyone passing.
Photograph I Belmont Southern Entrance
The windows are a mixture of timber, aluminium and uPVC in various styles as can be seen in Photograph I and II.
Water that runs along the Lewaigue Road runs down the driveways of the dwelling, which causes regular and occasionally severe flooding. Over the years, this has resulted in severe issues of subsidence of the building. Due to the extent and severity of the required repairs, our clients have decided to replace the existing dwelling. Below are examples of the water ingress and subsidence visible at the property.
Photograph III Belmont Northwest Corner {{image:144153}}
In the above picture you can clearly see that as the ground has moved it has caused cracking to the external path which leads to the vertical cracking in the corner of the building then turns horizontal. You can also see that the crack was sealed at some point and has been opened up again by further movement.
Photograph IV Belmont Internal Damage
The above picture shows the flood water ingress that has caused staining to the internal walls, the floor to drop which in turn has resulted in the visible gap between the floor and the skirting board. Severe cracks due to subsidence also appear in the main hall of the house.
Photograph V Belmont Retaining Wall
The above picture shows the condition of one of the retaining walls.
The proposed site is located to the North-East of the Lewaigue Road in the centre of a small hamlet spreading to either side of the road. The site is approximately $6000 \mathrm{~m}^{2}$ and slopes heavily offering impressive views to the North and East. In recent years, several new dwellings have been built in the area with no common design theme. These include:
Photograph VI Modena View
Photograph VII Dreemskerry Farm
Photograph VIII Glen Lodge
Photograph IX Sea View Taken From the Southern Entrance of Belmont
Photograph X Sea View
It is believed that the increased use of hard surfaces from the dwellings to the high side of the road have caused the increased runoff of rain water onto the Lewaigue Road. This then flows down our clients existing drive and causes regular flooding, sometimes several feet deep at the house. This continues to cause subsidence issues which can be seen in photographs III, IV \& V.
Photograph XI Tram View 1
The above picture shows the rear elevation running from left to right of Woodford, Burly and Geay Voar.
Photograph XII Tram View 2
The above picture shows Belmont on the left, The Spinney on the right with Summerhill in the background. As you can see much of the existing view of Belmont is obscured by the mature trees at the bottom of the garden. This will mean a degree of privacy to the new dwelling which is not afforded to the adjacent property. The trees themselves will not obscure any views down the valley from the new dwelling.
The neighbouring properties of Belmont are all detached, residential dwellings that vary significantly in size and style. The lack of consistency in this area makes it difficult to design and relate to a particular character, for example:
The only common factor is that the houses on the lower side of the road generally have two storeys facing the road and three storeys facing the valley with balconies or terraces. Although the proposed dwelling design does not replicate any single dwelling in the area we have incorporated many of the features from the neighbouring dwellings into the design, some of which are detailed below.
We have attached several additional examples of the adjacent buildings in Appendix I - IX.
One of the issues with the existing site access is that both driveways are at $20 \%$ slopes which are too steep for safe and practical use. This leads our clients, along with their visitors, to sometimes park on the main road and walk down to the dwelling. In winter when ice and snow are present the drive is especially dangerous and unusable.
Photograph XIII Dreemskerry View North Entrance
As can be seen in the above picture, the position and angle of both entrances are another problem as it reduces the visibility from both directions significantly which makes it dangerous for the user, oncoming traffic and pedestrians. Replacing the existing dwelling will provide the space and opportunity to remove the driveways and create a new one, resolving the access and flooding issues. Due to the position of the existing property it would not be possible to close off the current driveways and create solely a new driveway for the existing house due to the level changes across the site as this would result in an unacceptable loss of existing trees and the driveway being too steep an angle to be practical. The new access would also be tastefully landscaped so that it blends into the existing landscape. The Highways Division (Andrea Hawley) of the Department of Infrastructure have also given their full support for the new vehicular access at a meeting held on site (16/01/2014).
The design of the proposed building has evolved from the personal tastes of our clients, discussions with the Planning Office and consultation with the owners of the neighbouring properties. Discussions with our clients revealed that during the design procedure undertaken by a previous Architectural practice, it was discovered that the neighbouring owners were concerned over any contemporary designs that were visible from the road and wanted any new dwelling to have a traditional feel. It was implied that if any proposal was put forward with a contemporary design then they would feel obliged to object to the proposal. For this reason the proposed dwelling has been creatively designed to have a dual aspect with the
front and sides of the building being a classical country manor design, styled to give an elegant feel and the appearance that this was the original building in the area and the hamlet has evolved around it.
To incorporate some of the neighbouring properties traditional features such as beaded windows that can be seen on Dreemskery Lodge's and Caardee's front elevation and the sash windows which can be seen on Dreemskerry Cottage, Sea View and Dreemskerry Farm. We have also included a natural slate roof which can be seen on many roofs in the area and in order to be in keeping with the area and to reduce the massing of the roof we have hipped the ends as can be seen on The Spinney, Dreemskerry Lodge, Woodford, Burley, Greay Voar, Glen Lodge, Rock Side and Ballacreg.
The rear elevation will have a contemporary design with large glass windows and doors in order to take full advantage of the privacy and views of the rear, similar to those visible on The Spinney, Modena View, Caardee and Dreemskerry Lodge.
The proposed overhanging roof was incorporated to provide a shelter for the first floor balcony and the tiered shape of the rear allows for a further two balconies without causing loss of light to the lower floors, it also reflects the topography of the site. We have included an integral garage above a garden store, which will appear from the road to be only linked to the main dwelling by way of a glass link. This is to reduce the visual mass of the building and to give the car garage the appearance that it was a later addition to the original building and was constructed as a detached garage similar to that at Rock Side.
We believe our design for the proposed dwelling would allow the building to sit comfortably in the area. Tasteful features, styles and materials of surrounding properties have been incorporated into the design. The glass handrails for the balconies for instance are similar to the adjacent neighbour "The Spinney" shown in Appendix I which is also 3 stories with two glass balconies. We have also included large glass panes across the building to add a stylish, modern finish which compliments these features. We have also included environmentally friendly features such as solar panels; ventilation heat recovery system and/or an Air source heat pump are to be incorporated.
The existing driveways are to be blocked off by stone walls to match the existing boundary wall with the exception of a small pedestrian access point on the North entrance side, constructed such that no flood waters could enter the property. Furthermore, new drains will
be installed in conjunction with Highways to redirect the floodwater to the adjacent field to accommodate the water. The driveways themselves are to be broken up and planted. We believe this is in compliance with Housing Policy 14 of the IOM Strategic Plan, as the scheme will constitute an overall environmental improvement.
With regards to Housing Policy 14, although the proposed building has a larger floor area than the existing building, it has a smaller frontage to the road by 5.2 m and has been positioned in such a way that the footprint will be predominantly on the same location. The proposed building is sited a further 4.6 m away from the roadside than the existing (now totalling 22 m from the road), and due to the significant change in levels across the site, the increased floor to floor height of the proposed dwelling will result in the same ridge height as the previous dwelling which will result in the new dwelling being visually less intrusive than the existing building and as such the proposed building would be in compliance with the policy.
In conclusion we feel that this particular design is best suited to this site (several others were explored in detail) and that the application should be supported by the Planning Authority. By unifying the visible style of the building from the road and making the alterations to the driveway the proposed scheme will not only prevent further flooding to the new property and neighbouring properties but overall, it is a significant visual and environmental improvement over the existing property.
APPENDIX IX Photograph Geay Vooar
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