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20/00807/C Page 1 of 6
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 20/00807/C Applicant : Mrs Annabelle Westbury Proposal : Additional use of residential dwelling (class 3.3) as a chiropractic clinic Site Address : 5 Summerland Ramsey Isle Of Man IM8 2EF
Planning Officer: Mr Paul Visigah Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 05.10.2020 __
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.
C 2. The business use hereby approved is only for the provision of service as a chiropractic clinic and shall only be carried out by Mrs Annabelle Westbury and only whilst resident at 5 Summerland, Ramsey, and no other staff may be employed and/or work at the premises. Upon cessation of occupation by Mrs Annabelle Westbury, the use for the provision of chiropractic clinic hereby permitted shall cease.
Reason: This permission is granted exceptionally and the Department wishes to have the opportunity of exercising control over any subsequent use in the event of the applicant ceasing the use hereby approved.
C 3. No clients of the chiropractic clinic use hereby approved shall remain on the application site outside of the operational hours stipulated in the application. Operational Hours: 8am - 8pm Four days a week between Mondays to Fridays. Saturday, Sunday and selected day between Monday and Friday - Closed
Reason: In the interest of protecting neighbouring living conditions.
C 4. One of the parking areas within the curtilage of the dwelling shall not be used for any other purpose other than the parking and turning of vehicles associated with the development
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and shall remain free of obstruction for such use at all times unless otherwise approved in writing by the Department.
Reason: To ensure that sufficient provision is made for off-street parking during the business operational hours in the interest of highway safety.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. Overall and on balance, it is considered that the proposal complies with Business Policy 1 and Transport Policy 7 of the Strategic Plan 2016, and Policy R/TC/P10 of the Ramsey Local Plan Order 1998.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the Location Plan, The Floor Plan, and Accompanying Statement all date stamped and received 27 July 2020. __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The site is the residential curtilage of 5 Summerland, Ramsey, which is part of a pair of two storey semi-detached properties which are located on the southern side of Summerland and east of the junction with Queens Pier Road. This property is situated about 230m south- west of the town centre.
1.2 The dwelling has its front garden enclosed by a painted rendered dwarf masonry wall which opens up at the pedestrian gate which leads directly to the entrance. The driveway for the dwelling is situated on the north-eastern section of the site. This driveway is 4.05m wide and 17.7m long which implies that it can accommodate two standard sized cars and a medium sized car (in tandem parking). Unrestricted on-street parking is allowed on the southern side of the highway which ends in a cul de sac.
PROPOSAL 2.1 The application seeks approval for the additional use of residential dwelling (class 3.3) as a chiropractic clinic. The application does not propose any alterations or modifications to the property.
2.2 The applicant has provided some details pertaining to the proposed use: i. The applicant seeks to change the use of the dining room on the ground floor to enable additional use as a chiropractic clinic. Access to this space would be from the main hallway inside the front door situated on the left of the entrance. There is no external access and they do not propose any structural changes to make such access;
ii. The clinic will only be run by the applicant as a sole practitioner within this room with dimensions 3.66m x 4.45m (16.26sqm). The use would not be noise generating.
iii. Parking for clients would be on the privately owned driveway alongside the house so there would be no parking issues created for the neighbouring residents;
iv. The applicant's business would accommodate one client at a time and the length of each season would be 20-30mins with a minimum of 30-40 minutes between each client;
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v. The clients would will enter and exit via the existing front door to the property and the existing door at the rear of the property would be available as an emergency exit;
vi. The property has four WC's at present with the clients having access to the WC on the ground floor if required during visit.
vii. The proposed hours of operation would be between 9am - 8pm, 4 days a week, (Monday to Friday. The clinic will be closed for 1 working day each week. The applicant has stated that this day will be decided by demand once up and running. As well, the applicant intends to only work half days, and as such two days a week would be 'morning clinics' running between 9am and 2pm, and the remaining two days each week will be 'afternoon/evening clinics', running between 3pm and 8pm.
viii. The business estimates a maximum of 4-6 clients per day (2-3 a day) and each visit would be by appointment only.
PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Ramsey Local Plan Order 1998 as being within an area of predominately residential use; and the site is not within Ramsey Conservation Area or a Registered Building.
3.2 The relevant proposals in the Plan are as follows: 3.2.1 Policy R/TC/P10 Parking Standards: 9.25 Town centre parking standards for offices at 1 space per 50 sqm. nett shall be applied to all new development/redevelopment and conversion scheme. If necessary, consideration may be given to acceptance of a lesser standard for development proposals within the designated conservation Area. Elsewhere discretion may be applied if this can be justified by specific site constraints.
3.3 Due to the zoning of the site and the proposed works the following policies of the Strategic Plan are also relevant in the determination of the application:
3.4 Business Policy 1: The growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged provided that development proposals accord with the policies of this Plan.
3.5 General Policy 2 deals with development which is in accordance with the land use zoning. Whilst the proposal does not strictly comply with this, the points set out under General Policy 2 are general principles that a development should consider.
3.5.1 General Policy 2 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: (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; (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, and (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways.
3.6 Transport Policy 7: The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards.
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3.7 Appendix A.7.6 of the Isle of Man Strategic plan 2016 stipulates that, for a typical residential development, two (2) spaces should be provided per unit, at least one of which is retained within the curtilage and behind the front of the dwelling.
With regard to the parking standards, there are none specifically relating to the use, although for Medical / health services, 3 spaces per consulting room plus staff parking.
3.8 Section 11.4 of Manual for Manx Roads: Allocated and Unallocated Parking 11.4.1 The allocation of spaces to individual dwellings can have an adverse impact upon the efficiency of car parking provision. Allocated parking spaces include any spaces within the curtilage of a property (e.g. garage or driveway parking) and any spaces in communal areas where the space is reserved for one particular property.
11.4.2 On-street spaces upon public highways are always unallocated. However they can be reserved for a particular purpose such as disabled persons or residents' parking through the making of relevant Traffic Regulation Orders. The costs associated with making such Orders will need to be funded by the developer.
PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 The previous planning applications for the property are not considered relevant in the assessment and determination of this application.
REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the Government's website. This report contains summaries only.
5.1 Representation from the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) Highways Division confirms that they 'Do not oppose' in the letter dated 13 August 2020.
5.2 Ramsey Town Commissioners have no objection to this proposal (24 August 2020).
ASSESSMENT 6.1 The key considerations in the assessment of this application are: i. The principle of the use ii. The impact on neighbours iii. The impact on parking
6.2 The principle of the use
6.2.1 The principle of working from home is generally acceptable and to a certain degree can be carried out under Class 5 of the Town and Country Planning (Change of Use) Order 2019 which allows for the combined use of a dwellinghouse by the householder, so long as the business does not involve persons other than the householder working in or calling at the building. In this case the proposal would see clients or customers visit part of the property as a chiropractic clinic. Working from home and having customers visiting has become a common addition to dwellinghouses over the years and ensures only one customer can be seen at any one time, generally by the resident of the property. In the broadest terms the use is similar in its function to providing for private tuition, hairdressing, accountancy / professional services.
6.2.2 The site is zoned as 'Predominantly Residential' on the Ramsey Local Plan Order 1998, and sits between dwellings. Since the site is zoned for residential development, with the dwelling lawfully existing on the site, the use would not be at variance with other approvals that have been granted for similar uses on the island. However, the application must be considered on its own merit with the site specific conditions considered vital in its assessment.
6.2.3 As such, the proposed use is acceptable in principal subject to the considerations below.
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6.3 The impact on neighbours
6.3.1 A key obstacle which often prevents such uses being acceptable in residential areas is the impact on the neighbourhood both via noise or increased activity, as well as increased parking and highways demand. In this case, it is considered that there would be sufficient parking on the site, enough to accommodate the residential use and the proposed business use. As well, there is sufficient on-street parking within the cul de sac, although these are not allocated. In addition, the dwelling is within a public transport corridor with bus stops within 150m to the dwelling, which the clients could use when visiting the application property, although there is no guarantee the clients would use public transport and there is no means of monitoring the use thereof. It is also considered that the proposed use which is a form of alternative medicine is not noise generating and as such the impact of the proposed use on the vicinity would be minimal.
6.4 Impact on parking
6.4.1 The parking standards in 'The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016' require 2 car parking spaces for a dwelling. Additional site parking is also required for the proposed business development. Given that the application site has three parking provisions, it is considered that the parking provisions would meet the required standards and as such, the impact on parking would be acceptable.
CONCLUSION 7.1 In summary, the proposal is considered to have a neutral impact on the appearance and character of the street scene, with acceptable impacts on parking provisions. As well, it is judged that the proposed use would not result in unacceptable noise and disturbance to residents, and it would not impact on road safety and traffic flows within the cul de sac to an unsatisfactory highway safety level. As such, the application is supported.
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 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: 19.10.2020
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Signed : P VISIGAH
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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