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20/00597/B Page 1 of 7
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 20/00597/B Applicant : Mr Paul Leneghan Proposal : Variation of condition 3 & 4 of PA17/00864/C to use holiday accommodation for longer lets up to 2 years for permanent residential/tourist occupation Site Address : Pinfold Cottage Pinfold Hill Laxey Isle Of Man IM4 7HN
Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Refused Date of Recommendation: 29.09.2020 __
Reasons for Refusal
R : Reasons for Refusal O : Notes attached to reasons
R 1. The existing tourist units would not provide a satisfactory level of amenity to form dwellings in their own right by virtue of their size, arrangement and relationship with the adjacent dwelling/tourist units which would result in an unacceptably low level of privacy and an unneighbourly living environment and as such do not comply General Policy 2 (b), (g) and (j). __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The application site is the curtilage of Pinfold Cottage, Pinfold Hill, Laxey which is situated to the corner of where Pinfold Hill meets Fairy Cottage. Within the grounds of Pinfold Cottage are three individual units providing a mix of tourist and ancillary accommodation, each one has been subject to its own previously approved planning application and subject to relevant conditions restricting the length of use.
1.2 The site is accessed from Pinfold Hill, of which the site has an area of off road parking which can accommodate 4 cars (which have reversed in) and one car in the garage. If there is a car within the garage it will be blocked by any cars parking in front of it.
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1.3 The site is laid out with "Cott Pundail" situated to the west of the main dwelling and "Pinfold Holiday Cottage" situated to the south east of the site. To the north west of the site is a garden area and the garage is situated to the north of the site.
THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The current planning application seeks approval to vary condition 3 & 4 of PA1700864/C to use as holiday accommodation for longer lets up to 2 years for permanent residential/tourist occupation.
2.2 Condition 3 of PA17/00864/C states, "The accommodation 'Cott Pundail' hereby approved must be available from 01st April to 31st October of each year for tourist use not exceeding 4 weeks. Outside of these dates the unit may be used for tourist accommodation for individual lets not exceeding 3 months. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval is given for the use of the accommodation as a separate dwelling. Reason: to reflect the nature of the application."
2.3 Condition 4 of PA17/00864/C states, "The accommodation 'Pinfold Holiday Cottage' hereby approved must be available from 01st April to 31st October of each year for tourist use not exceeding 4 weeks. Outside of these dates the unit may be used for tourist accommodation for individual lets not exceeding 3 months. The accommodation Pinfold Holiday Cottage may also be used as ancillary accommodation to the main dwelling. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval is given for the use of the accommodation as a separate dwelling. Reason: to reflect the nature of the application."
2.4 The floor plan of "Cott Pundail" is to the ground floor there is a bedroom and en-suite with an open plan lounge and kitchen to the first floor level.
2.5 The floor plan of "Pinfold Holiday Cottage" is Lounge, Kitchen, Bathroom and bedroom to the found floor level.
PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 The application has been subject to a number of previous applications, the most relevant in the case of this application are:
3.2 PA07/01484/B was for the "demolition of outbuilding and erection of replacement building to provide tourist accommodation," and was permitted subject to conditions of which Condition 3 is the most relevant and states, "The accommodation created by this approval must only be used as either a) holiday accommodation for individual lets not exceeding four weeks in duration; or b) accommodation ancillary to that of the existing dwelling. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval should hereby be conferred by this approval for the use of the new accommodation as a separate dwelling."
3.3 PA07/01486/B was for the "Demolition of existing garage and erection of a replacement garage with ancillary accommodation above and alterations to garden to increase parking provision and formation of a turning area," and was Pemitted subject to Conditions.
3.4 PA08/01958/B was for the "Demolition of outbuilding and erection of replacement dwelling to provide tourist accommodation (comprising amendments to PA 07/01484/B)," and was permitted subject to conditions of which Condition 3 is the most relevant and states, "The accommodation created by this approval must only be used as either a) holiday accommodation for individual lets not exceeding four weeks in duration; or b) accommodation ancillary to that of the existing dwelling. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval should hereby be conferred by this approval for the use of the new accommodation as a separate dwelling."
3.5 PA09/00903/B was for the, "Erection of a two storey extension to provide holiday accommodation and a water wheel," and was pemitted subject to conditions of which Condition
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3 is the most relevant and states, "The accommodation created by this approval shall be used only as holiday accommodation for individual lets not exceeding four weeks in duration. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval should hereby be conferred by this approval for the use of the new accommodation as a separate dwelling."
3.6 PA17/00864/C was for the, "Change of use of Queeyl Ushtey from ancillary accommodation and tourist accommodation to site managers accommodation; change of use of Pinfold Holiday Cottage from ancillary accommodation and holiday accommodation with individual lets not exceeding 4 weeks to ancillary accommodation and tourist accommodation with lets not exceeding 3 months and change of use of Cott Pundall from holiday accommodation with individual lets not exceeding 4 weeks to tourist accommodation with lets not exceeding 3 months." And was permitted subject to conditions of which the Condition 3 and 4 are most relevant;
3.6.1 Condition 3 states, "The accommodation 'Cott Pundail' hereby approved must be available from 01st April to 31st October of each year for tourist use not exceeding 4 weeks. Outside of these dates the unit may be used for tourist accommodation for individual lets not exceeding 3 months. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval is given for the use of the accommodation as a separate dwelling. Reason: to reflect the nature of the application."
3.6.2 Condition 4 states, "The accommodation 'Pinfold Holiday Cottage' hereby approved must be available from 01st April to 31st October of each year for tourist use not exceeding 4 weeks. Outside of these dates the unit may be used for tourist accommodation for individual lets not exceeding 3 months. The accommodation Pinfold Holiday Cottage may also be used as ancillary accommodation to the main dwelling. For the avoidance of doubt, no approval is given for the use of the accommodation as a separate dwelling. Reason: to reflect the nature of the application."
PLANNING POLICY 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as Predominantly Residential on the Laxey and Lonan Local Plan 2005, Lonan map. The Laxey and Lonan Local Plan 2005 has three policies which is relevant to this assessment L/RES/PR/1, L/RES/PR/14 and L/RES/PR/15.
4.2 L/RES/PR/1 of the Laxey and Lonan Local Plan 2005 states, "Residential development will generally only be approved within the study area in those areas designated as proposed and existing residential. In particular, in the case of Agneash no further dwellings will be approved although, as will be the case in areas zoned as residential, alterations and extensions to existing property may be accepted if such proposals are sympathetic to the character and appearance of both the building to be altered and the surrounding area in general."
4.3 L/RES/PR/14 of the Laxey and Lonan Local Plan 2005 states, "In the interests of conserving the traditional character and appearance of the area the department will adopt a flexible approach to the requirement for car parking in association with existing property inasmuch as where it is possible to provide car parking for the use of the building concerned the department will expect the prvisions of parking for residents in the case of residential property and staff and customers in the case of commercial property. However, where the provision of car parking would be detrimental to the appearance or character of the area, car parking standards may be relaxed."
4.4 L/RES/PR/15 of the Laxey and Lonan Local Plan 2005 states, "Notwithstanding the above, the department will require the provision of 3 car parking spaces per unit where at least one of the spaces is retained within the curtilage and behind the front of the dwelling. In the case of residential terraces, the department will generally require 3 spaces per unit which is not provided within the residential curtilage should be located as close as possible to the units to
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be served without comprising the residential amenity. In the case of apartments the department will generally require one space per bedroom to be provided."
4.5 Strategic Policy 1 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states, "Development should make the best use of resources by: (a) optimising the use of previously developed land, redundant buildings, unused and under- used land and buildings, and reusing scarce indigenous building materials; (b) ensuring efficient use of sites, taking into account the needs for access, landscaping, open space(1) and amenity standards; and (c) being located so as to utilise existing and planned infrastructure, facilities and services."
4.6 Strategic Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states, "New development will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions(2) of these towns and villages. Development will be permitted in the countryside only in the exceptional circumstances identified in paragraph 6.3."
4.7 General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 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: (a) is in accordance with the design brief in the Area Plan where there is such a brief; (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; (d) does not adversely affect the protected wildlife or locally important habitats on the site or adjacent land, including water courses; (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; (j) can be provided with all necessary services;
4.8 Housing Policy 4 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2015 states, "New housing will be located primarily within our existing towns and villages, or, where appropriate, in sustainable urban extensions(1) of these towns and villages where identified in adopted Area Plans: otherwise new housing will be permitted in the countryside only in the following exceptional circumstances: (a) essential housing for agricultural workers in accordance with Housing Policies 7, 8, 9 and 10; (b) conversion of redundant rural buildings in accordance with Housing Policy 11; and (c) the replacement of existing rural dwellings and abandoned dwellings in accordance with Housing Policies 12, 13 and 14."
4.9 Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states, "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards."
4.10 The relevant parking standard under Appendix 7 for apartments is 1 space for 1 bedroom and 2 spaces for 2 or more bedrooms. It also states that standards may be relaxed where development: (a) would secure the re-use of a Registered Building or a building of architectural or historic interest; or (b) would result in the preservation of a sensitive streetscape; or (c) is otherwise of benefit to the character of a Conservation Area.
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(d) is within a reasonable distance of an existing or proposed bus route and it can be demonstrated a reduced level of parking will not result in unacceptable on street parking in the locality.
REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Highway Services have considered the proposal and do not oppose (30.06.20).
5.2 No comments have been received from Garff Commissioners at the time of writing this report.
ASSESSMENT 6.1 The fundamental issue with regards to this application as there are no alterations proposed is whether the proposed current tourist units are suitable to be used as longer lets up to 2 years.
6.2 Throughout the planning history of the site, references have been made that the properties within the site would not be suitable for permanent residency as such it is necessary to assess what is a tourist and whether the extension for up to 2 years is counted as tourist.
6.3 Whilst there is nothing specific within the isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which states what a tourist specifically is tourism is defined as ""Tourism" has been defined by the Tourism Society as "the temporary short term movement of people to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during their stay at these destinations", and it covers a very wide range of activities and types of development. This may include travel and visits for business, professional, and domestic purposes as well as for holidays and recreation."
6.4 To further this the Oxford Dictionary defines tourist as "a person who is travelling or visiting a place for pleasure." As this definition was not timescales further advice was sought, whilst not necessarily a UK association the United Nations Specialized Agency World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) deals with Europe, Asia and the Pacific, America and Africa and has defined a tourist as a visitor of which "A visitor is a traveller taking a trip to a main destination outside his/her usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited (IRTS 2008, 2.9). A visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor), if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise (IRTS 2008, 2.13)."
6.5 Due to the "employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited," it was necessary to find out how long this stay could be, the UNWTO International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 state the following, "2.35. Any trip by a traveller whose main purpose is to be employed by a resident entity in the country visited and receive compensation for the labour input provided should not be considered as a tourism trip even though it is outside his/her usual environment and for less than 12 months. Nevertheless, if being employed and the payment received are only incidental to the trip, the traveller would still be a visitor."
6.6 With the above in mind the proposed use of the tourist units as longer lets for up to 2 years will make the existing units no longer tourist units, as such the units need to be assessed as if they are being changed to permanent residential properties.
6.7 When looking at the alteration to tourist and to permanent residential there is a important difference in that the amenity one might expect to be provided from a tourist unit and the amenity that one might expect from a modern dwelling should afford, such considerations include the level of privacy provided between properties, the amount of internal and external space allocated to the property, the convenience of the service space such as bin storage and car parking and the level of shared facilities with other properties.
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6.8 The site as a whole has Cott Pundall situated to the west of the site and Pinfold Holiday Cottage situated to the east of the site with car parking between them. When on site it could be seen that Cott Pundall was the smallest of the two but had a garden to the north of the property, which was accessible from the ground floor. It could also be seen that both properties could see directly into each other and the main dwelling which limited any possible privacy either property could have. This is especially noticeable due to each property only being around 3.5m away from each other.
6.9 When looking at the distance between properties to prevent overlooking 20m is the required unless there are certain circumstances. Due to the parking being between both these properties no remedial items can be installed which would lessen the overlooking. This lack of privacy provided is not judged to be acceptable for a residential dwelling.
6.10 When looking at the overall arrangement of the properties with Cott Pundall being set behind the main dwelling, with the existing garage being used as a manager's office and Pinfold Holiday Cottage being set next to the main dwelling and Cott Pundall with mutual parking in-between. This mutual relationship whilst acceptable for short term tourist accommodation lacks a clear differentiation between the residential curtilages and such a layout would be inappropriate to provide as four separate dwellings.
6.11 It should also be noted that with regards to accessible amenity there is only one garden space assessable which is to the rear of Cott Pundall which whilst suitable to be shared as tourist units it is unacceptable to expect that the other three properties would be going past the only bedroom of Cott Pundall to get to this garden.
CONCLUSION 7.1 The existing tourist units would not provide a satisfactory level of amenity to form a dwelling in its own right by virtue of its size, arrangement and relationship with the adjacent dwelling/tourist units which would result in an unacceptably low level of privacy and an neighbourly living environment and as such do not comply with the strategic policies laid out in section 4 above.
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 __
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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 : Refused Date : 01.10.2020
Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER
Stephen Butler
Head of Development Management
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