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                                      20/00238/B                                     Page  1  of  3

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 20/00238/B Applicant : Comis Holdings Limited Proposal : Creation of covered area and extension to spa Site Address : Hotel/leisure Complex & Golf C Mount Murray Ballacutchel Road Mount Murray Douglas Isle Of Man IM4 2HT

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

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 07.04.2020 __

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 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The development is considered to accord with the relevant Strategic Plan policies, in particular General Policy 2 and Business Policy 11.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to drawings 01, 21, 22 and 23 all received on 27th February, 2020.

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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None

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                                      20/00238/B                                     Page  2  of  3

Officer’s Report

THE SITE 1.1 The site is the hotel complex of Comis - Mount Murray, situated on the Ballacutchel Road which links the A5 and the A24. The complex includes the hotel and guest bedrooms, sports facilities and is surrounded by the golf course whose clubhouse and restaurant are located on the other side of the road from the hotel.

1.2 This application concerns an area on the northern part of the eastern elevation of the main hotel building (facing the housing development and the lake) in a recess. Despite the area accommodating a substation and switch room within a flat roofed structure alongside the building, the space is abutting large glazed areas of the hotel and spa suite.

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the creation of an outdoor spa area, covered by a new pergola roof and created around the side and rear of the existing switch room and substation buildings. The facilities will be directly accessible from the existing spa facilities within the hotel.

PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Development Plan order 1982 as Proposed Tourist Accommodation in Parkland. On the draft Area Plan for the East, the site does not appear to be designated for a particular purpose, despite being an established hotel.

3.2 The site is clearly an established hotel and what is proposed does not change this nor does it extend the footprint or change the impact of the development. As such, whilst General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan strictly applies to development which is in accordance with the relevant land use designation, in this case, the provisions are considered to be relevant as follows where development is required to:

(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 and (m) takes account of community and personal safety and security in the design of buildings and the spaces around them.

3.3 7.2.3 In order to ensure that the varying demands on the countryside and coastline are complementary and to reflect its importance as an entity, the general policy set out in Environment Policy 1 has been adopted (see 7.5.1 below). In exceptional circumstances, where development is required in the countryside and on the coast, the need will normally be identified and assessed through the development plan process. Such a need might arise where development is required to meet housing and employment provisions which could not be met within existing settlements or to provide facilities of strategic importance for agriculture, leisure, tourism or transport or to serve needs of local communities where a rural location is required.

3.4 Business Policy 11 makes it clear that tourism-related development in undesignated areas should be subject to the same protective policies as any other form of development. It is often the case that where there is an existing use within an undesignated area, that additional development can be acceptable, despite Environment Policy 1 and General Policy 3 presuming against this: for example, Housing Policies 15 and 16 make provision for extensions to existing rural housing but this is not referred to in GP3. There are also Permitted Development rights for rural householders to erect extensions and outbuildings subject to certain restrictions, which are not referred to in GP3.

PLANNING HISTORY

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                                      20/00238/B                                     Page  3  of  3

4.1 The site has been the subject of a number of applications for various developments of the hotel and associated facilities particularly since the fire of 2013, none of which are particularly relevant to the current application.

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Highway Services have no objection (19.03.20).

ASSESSMENT 6.1 Whilst the site is not designated for development, the proposed facilities are directly associated with services already provided at the site. They will not result in additional people visiting the site nor will they have any noticeable impact from a public perspective given the distance from the road and the vegetation and buildings between.

6.2 The works will enhance the range of facilities at the hotel without any adverse impact.

CONCLUSION 7.1 The development is considered to accord with the relevant Strategic Plan policies, in particular General Policy 2 and Business Policy 11.

INTERESTED PERSON STATUS 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons: (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf); (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material; (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure; (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (f) the local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated; and (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material.

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 above who should be given Interested Person Status __

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: 20.04.2020

Determining officer Signed : C BALMER

Chris Balmer

Principal Planner

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.