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Application No.: 20/00412/B Applicant: Akela Pet Foods Ltd Proposal: Installation of roof solar panels and additional use of warehouse / storage (class 2.4) to allow pet food development Site Address: Unit 6 Cooil Smithy Isle Of Man Business Park Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 2QA Planning Officer: Mr Paul Visigah Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 18.06.2020 _________________________________________________________________
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
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.
Reason: The Department has assessed the impact of the proposal on the basis of the specific use proposed and this use only is approved and other uses, either within the same Use Class, or permitted by the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2019 and the (Change of Use) (Development) (No. 2) Order 2019 would require further consideration.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.
Overall, it is concluded that the planning application would not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties or the highway network and would comply with GP2, Business Policy 1 & 5, Environment Policy 22 and Energy Policy 4 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This decision relates to the Supporting Letter, Drawing numbers 1877-01, 1877-02, 1877-03 and 1877-04 date stamped and received 16 April 2020. _______________________________________________________________
Additional Persons None _____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report THE SITE
1.1 The application site is Unit 6, Cooil Smithy, Isle of Man Business Park, Douglas, which is a recently completed building block, situated on the north eastern side of Cooil Road opposite Ballapaddag industrial operation and within a development of 12 other units to the south of the Former Cooil Smithy site. - 1.2 The unit is within Block A in this development, which is limited to industrial or warehouse/ distribution use as approved under PA13/91117/B. Block A provides 6 units in total, 6 of which have similar floor area while units 4 and 5 have larger floorspace. The application unit has a floorspace of 1690sqft (157sqm) and have three parking spaces associated with and available to it, situated directly in front of the unit. - 1.3 Given the above use for the site, the application property is classed as general industrial and storage (Classes 2.3 and 2.4). THE PROPOSAL
2.1 This application seeks approval for installation of roof solar panel and additional use to allow pet food development. This proposal is for the production of frozen complete raw pet food and would involve some retail of the finished product at the production facility. As such, the proposal will involve:
2.2 The applicants have explained that they currently distribute dry kibble and wet tinned complete working dog foods across the island and further afield through its website. They further stated that consumers would be able to pay online and collect their order from the warehouse. This element would fall under Use Class 1.1. - 2.3 The supporting information also indicates that the applicants plan to go into business with Manx Canine who currently manufactures frozen complete raw pet foods and the plan is to move their DEFA approved facility to application site. It is noted that the manufacture of frozen complete raw pet food involves mincing, mixing and packaging human grade raw meats at low temperature. The applicants indicate that there are no smells involved as nothing is cooked and there are no waste as everything is minced and frozen. This use falls under Use Class 2.3 which is the approved use for the facility; therefore this element of the proposal will not be assessed.
3.1 The site lies within a site designated on the Braddan Local Plan of 1991 as an area where a master plan for the development of the site should be formulated to incorporate a mix of uses including residential, industrial, science based industry and a secondary school. The area was the subject of applications (PAs 89/04166, 90/04155) for the development of residential development at the northern edge and for a business park on the remainder of the site which includes some retailing (cars, carpets, timber and building products), Douglas Corporation's waste management headquarters, training facilities (Restart and Red Cross), and corporate headquarters (Manx Telecom, MEA, Celton Manx, Royal London). Planning approval was granted for the erection of the application building under PAs 13/00555/B and 13/91117/B as industrial and / or warehousing & distribution units.
3.2 The development should therefore accord with the following policies in the Strategic Plan: General Policy 2 states: "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: (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality
3.3 Parking provision should be made on the basis of 1 space per 50 sq m of industrial space and 1 to 100 sq m of storage and distribution in accordance with the Strategic Plan Appendix Seven. - 3.4 The definition of industrial uses as contained in Section 9.2.3 of the Strategic Plan would be vital in the assessment of the application given the proposed use of the unit. 9.2.3 Industrial buildings are defined as follows:
"industrial building" means a building (other than a building in or adjacent to or belonging to a quarry or mine and other than a shop) used for the carrying on of any process, for or incidental to any of the following purposes, namely:-
"special industrial building" means an industrial building used for the carrying on of processes (including storage) which may be particularly offensive by reason of noise, smell, vibration, smoke, soot, ash, dust, grit, or fumes, or dangerous by reason of the storage or use of dangerous or inflammable material, or inimical to public health by reason of vermin or other causes. Many I.T. and e-businesses successfully operate in the new generation of industrial buildings. At the same time many operate successfully in standard office environments or even heritage buildings. In planning terms the principal distinction is between those enterprises that manufacture physical products and require production, packaging and distribution space and those enterprises whose products, as such, do not have the same processing requirement. In most cases the former enterprises can be located in appropriate industrial estates or business parks(1) in a range of different buildings. In the latter, office type accommodation may be now appropriate.
3.5 Business Policy 1 (BP1) states that 'the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged provided that development proposals accord with the policies of this Plan'. - 3.6 Business Policy 5: On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except where either:
3.7 Environment Policy 22 (EP22) states that 'Development will not be permitted where it would unacceptably harm the environment and/or the amenity of nearby properties in terms of…iii) vibration, odour, noise or light pollution'. Within paragraph 7.17.1 it states that 'it is not the role of land use planning to duplicate controls which are the statutory responsibility of other agencies including other directorates within the Department of Local Government and the Environment'. - 3.8 Development associated with renewable energy is referred to in the Strategic Plan as follows:
"12.2.8 The Department is fully supportive of the need to secure greater energy efficiency in new and existing development and has recently introduced additional energy efficiency requirements in the Building Regulations 2003. Energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources are covered in General Policy 2(m) of the Building Regulations. At the same time the Department recognizes that renewable energy sources can have adverse environmental impacts. The idea of a wind turbine Installation is currently being investigated and considered by the Manx Electricity Authority. Any feasible site is likely to be exposed and have considerable visual impact. There may also be other impacts such as noise. On a smaller scale, the popularity of domestic wind turbines has been increasing in recent years in response to rising energy prices and increasing awareness of climate change. Planning applications for domestic wind turbines are unlikely to require the submission of an Environmental Impact Assessment. The Department will assess any proposals for wind turbine installations by weighing the benefits of using such renewable energy sources against the environmental impact arising in any particular site. It is likely that the visual impact would be less detrimental on a coastal site than on a rural or upland one".
Accordingly:
Energy Policy 4: Development involving alternative sources of energy supply, including wind, water and tide power, and the use of solar panels, will be judged against the environmental objectives and policies set out in this Plan. Installations involving wind, water and tide power will require the submission of an EIA."
4.1 Under PA 13/91117/B approval was granted for the Erection of fourteen industrial and / or warehousing & distribution units (Amendments to PA 13/00555/B).
4.2 PA 20/00324/C for Change of use from storage, distribution, and general industrial use (Classes 2.3 and 2.4) to include additional retail use (class 1.1) Unit 14 Cooil Smithy Isle Of Man Business Park Douglas - Refused The Reason for refusal is stated thus: The proposed ancillary retail use (Class 1.1.) would be contrary to the land use zoning on the Braddan Local Plan 1991 and specifically Policy 2.4 and 2.5 due to the retail proposed being conducted from an industrial unit.
The proposed use is also contrary to Strategic Aim 9 which states that all new retailing must be sited within a town or village centre which has been zoned as such.
The proposed use is contrary to Business Policies 5, 9 and 10 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which are all in place to direct retailing development to town centres where the proposed retail could be reasonably sold from within a town centre location, or due to their size and nature from an area zoned as industrial use.
The proposed items for sale can be sold from within a town centre location, of which there are several sites on the Island where this is already done.
4.3 PA 17/00763/C for Change of use from Industrial, Warehousing and Distribution to Class 2 (a) (Insurance broker) - Refused Reasons for refusal:
5.2 Braddan Parish Commissioners indicate that they have no objection to the application in a letter dated 5 May 2020.
ASSESSMENT 6.1 The key considerations in the assessment of this application are the principle of the development, the impact on the operation of other businesses in the area, and the impacts on parking and highway safety. Another issue to be assessed is if the proposal has any adverse environmental impact and if so, if the environmental benefit of renewable energy outweighs this. The additional use of the facility to allow pet food development is not assessed within this report since the development falls within the approved use class for the facility.
6.2 The principle of development
6.3 Impact on neighbouring businesses
6.3.1 The operation of neighbouring commercial business is not likely to be impacted. This is hinged on the fact that the area has been designated for the proposed use as it accords with the area designation and as such it is not considered that the manufacturing propcess would impact on neighbouring businesses.
6.4 Parking and highway safety
The installation of the solar panels at the site is not considered to have any adverse impacts on the application property or the locality and will accord with the general support given to the introduction of renewable and alternative energy sources as set out in the Strategic Plan, and is not required to provide an EIA. Their introduction here is expected to help contribute to the overall operation and energy efficiency of the property which is situated within a facility. In this respect the proposal is considered to comply with paragraph 12.2.8 and Energy Policy 4 of the Strategic Plan.
I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.
Decision Made : Permitted Date : 02.07.2020 Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management
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