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20/00831/B Page 1 of 6
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 20/00831/B Applicant : Mr Ian Duggua Proposal : Erection of a detached building for use as office (class 2.1) Site Address : 18 Vicarage Park Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 2QB
Planning Officer: Mr Peiran Shen Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 09.11.2020 __
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 use hereby approved shall only be undertaken between 09:00 and 16:00 on weekdays. The use shall not be undertaken at any time on Saturdays and Sundays and Public Holidays.
Reason: To ensure that the development is undertaken in accordance with the application details and in the interest of protecting neighbouring living conditions.
C 3. There must be no more than one off-site employee within the site at any one time.
Reason: In the interest of highway safety and residential amenity.
C 4. There must be no customer/client on the site at any time.
Reason: In the interest of highway safety and residential amenity.
C 5. The area of the building to be used for the office shall be limited to that shown on the site plan forming part of the application and the use hereby permitted shall not extend into any other part of the premises.
Reason: To minimise the disturbance to adjacent residential occupiers and to protect the residential character of the locality.
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C 6. The use hereby approved shall only be for the benefit of the applicant while they are resident at 18 Vicarage Park, Douglas.
Reason: Although the specific details of this application have been found acceptable, any change to its operation will require fresh assessment.
C 7. The driveway and access shall be kept available and unobstructed for parking at all times.
Reason: To ensure construction of a satisfactory access and in the interests of highway safety.
This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. This application is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 7, 8 and Transport Policy 7 of the Strategic Plan.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the submitted documents, statement, location plan and site plan date- stamped as having been received on 29th July 2020 and the additional statement, the proposed site plan, the proposed elevations and the proposed floor plan as having been received on 7th October 2020. __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
It is recommended that the owners/occupiers of the following properties should not be given Interested Person Status as they are not considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 4(2):
Owner and occupier of 14 Vicarage Park, Douglas; Owner and occupier of 21 Vicarage Park, Douglas; Owner and occupier of 27 Vicarage Park, Douglas; and Owner and occupier of 30 Vicarage Park, Douglas;
as they are not within 20m of the application site and the development is not automatically required to be the subject of an EIA by Appendix 5 of the Strategic Plan, in accordance with paragraph 2B of the Policy. __
Officer’s Report
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS IT IS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL BUT CONTRARY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN.
1.0 THE SITE 1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of 18 Vicarage Park, Douglas, a two- storey detached property located at a 90-degree bend on the southeast of Vicarage Park. There are fences around the boundary of the site except for the entrance to the site. Outside the west and south boundary, there are narrow walkways.
1.2 The front of the property is mostly paved. There is also a large paved area from the west boundary to the west elevation of the dwelling. There is a garden shed that sits near the southwest corner of the site on the paved area.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The proposed work is the erection of a shed, in replacement of the existing shed, as a part of the residential curtilage above (Class 3.3) and the use of it both for the enjoyment of
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the dwelling (attached to Class 3.3) and as an office (separately as Class 2.1). Essentially, the work is proposing the additional use of the site as an office.
2.2 The single-storey flat-roof shed will be located around the same place as the existing shed. It is approx. 3.5m wide, 7.0m deep and 2.6m tall. It is made of timber. It will have a sliding door on the north elevation; three top-hung casement window and an obscured glazed casement window on the east elevation. The shed will have a small kitchenette, a toilet and a storage closet.
2.3 The application originally contain a plan that includes a kitchenette and a toilet with a shower. After some negotiation, the shower has been replaced with a storage closet and the size of the kitchenette has been reduced in avoiding resemblance of a self-contained unit.
2.4 The applicants intend to provide a consultancy service to off-shore clients. They state that the office would be in operation from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 16:00. There will be the applicant and one off-site staff coming into work with the applicant. No customer or member of the public will be visiting the property.
2.5 In the submitted statement, the applicants state that the shed will be returned to the use which relating to the enjoyment of the residential property when the office use has stopped.
3.0 PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 There is no previous application considered materially relevant to this application.
4.0 PLANNING POLICY 4.1 In terms of local policy, the site lies within an area designated as "Predominantly Residential Use" in the Douglas Local Plan 1998.
4.2 In terms of strategic policy, the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered materially relevant to the assessment of this current planning application:
4.3 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: (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; (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; (k) does not prejudice the use or development of adjoining land in accordance with the appropriate Area Plan;".
4.5 Business Policy 7: "New office floor space should be located within town and village centres on land which is zoned for the purpose on the appropriate area plan; exceptionally, permission may be given for new office space (a) on approved Business Parks for Corporate Headquarters which do not involve day to day callers; or
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(b) in buildings of acknowledged architectural or historic interest for which office use represents the only or most appropriate practicable and economic way of securing future use, renovation and maintenance. "
4.6 Business Policy 8: "New office buildings should, in terms of height and mass, respect the scale and character of adjoining and nearby buildings and should accommodate parking space in accordance with the standards specified in Appendix 7 of the Plan."
4.6 Transport Policy 7: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards."
4.7 Appendix 7.6 states that for offices within a town centre, there should be 1 space for every 50 square metres of net floor space and for out-of-town offices there should be 1 space for every 15 square metres of net floor space.
5.0 REPRESENTATION 5.1 Douglas Borough Council has no objection on this application (11/08/2020). Their comments stay unchanged after the applicant submitted the revised plan (14/10/2020).
5.2 DoI Highway Services states there is no highway interest in this application (13/08/2020). Their comments stay unchanged after the applicant submitted the revised plan (20/10/2020).
5.3 Owner and occupier of 30 Vicarage Park has commented in objection (12/08/2020) to the application. They believe the development will increase traffic in Vicarage Park. They also believe that an approval will encourage others to open similar businesses around the area.
5.4 Owner and occupier of 27 Vicarage Park has commented in objection (13/08/2020) to the application. They believe the development will increase unwanted traffic within the area.
5.5 Owner and occupier of 21 Vicarage Park has commented in objection (15/08/2020) to the application. They believe the development will increase the volume of traffic into a designated 20 mph zone. The proposed site is on a bend and kerb parking is very limited. The walkway connects to Valljeelt Primary School and is used by young people. They also believe this will set a precedent.
5.7 All commenters above have mentioned that the deed linked with the proposed site could have a clause rejecting the possibility of opening a business within the property.
5.6 Owner and occupier of 14 Vicarage Park commented in objection (18/08/2020) to the application. They believe that as the property is on a 90-degree bend, the increased traffic related to construction or the proposed use could cause parking issues as kerbside parking is very limited, which furtherly would worsen the traffic as it will be difficult to pass the bend. They also suggest that there could be a clause in the deed prevents the erection of non- necessary outbuildings.
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of the planning application is the principle of the additional use and the potential impacts of the proposal on the wider amenity.
THE PRINCIPLE OF OPERATING A BUSINESS FROM THE SITE 6.2 The additional use should be classified as offices (Class 2.1) rather than financial and professional services (Class 1.2). This is because the proposal does not have any customer
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visiting while Class 1.2 is for services that provide "principally to visiting members of the public".
6.3 When looking at the principle of the additional use it should be acknowledged that permission has been approved and refused for the operation of businesses from a residential property, throughout the Island. Although these case are more related to shops and services that intake customers (Class 1). However, Class 2.1 generally has less impact on the surrounding amenities compare to Class 1. So a similar assessment should be applicable.
6.4 18 Vicarage Park is within a site treated as designated for 'predominately residential use'. As such, erection of a shed to use as an office would not comply with the land use designation. However, the application site will remain as a dwellinghouse in its majority. The proposed use is connected to the ancillary use of the dwelling (as a home office for its occupants) and not use in its own right over the existing use.
6.4 There is an existing shed in the rear garden and the proposed shed will replace the existing shed. Although bigger than the existing shed, the shed is still not readily visible by the public. The design is in keeping with the surroundings, such as the wooden fence. There will be no visual impact in General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 based on the small- scale of its use.
6.5 It should be noted that 18 Vicarage Park is not close to a town centre, commercial area or industrial park, and Business Policy 7 has recommended that new office space be located within town centre with limited exceptions. However, the proposed additional use does not deal with customer face-to-face so a town centre location is not necessary, nor does the location within or outside of a town centre bring or draw away significant traffic of people or goods. Given the small scale of the operation, it is considered that the proposal will not be detrimental to the vitality of the town centres. Therefore, the principle of the additional use as an office is considered acceptable.
THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS UPON NEIGHBOURING AMENITIES 6.6 The main concerns for this application relate to the impact upon on-street parking provisions, traffic, noise, and general disturbances though people coming and going from the site.
6.7 The Strategic Plan requires that a residential dwelling to have a minimum of two off- road parking spaces. The Strategic Plan also requires there is one parking space for every 15 square meters of office space outside a town centre. The proposal has approx. 16.0 meter square of net office space, which means it needs to have one parking space solely for the office.
6.8 The proposed and existing number of car parking spaces on the site application is at least six. This means the property does have a sufficient parking arrangement to meet the required standards for both the main dwelling and the additional use of the office.
6.9 In additional, there will only be one car visiting and leaving the property in addition to the existing situation. It is considered that this combining with the sufficient provision of off- street parking, will not have an impact on highway safety.
6.10 It is considered necessary to include a condition ensuring that the driveway is made available and unobstructed for the parking of vehicles at all times.
6.11 In terms of neighbouring properties and noise, due to the nature of the business, with only two office workers at any given time and no noisy activities being carried out, it is considered unlikely that there will be a significant impact on the neighbouring properties.
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OTHER MATTERS 6.12 Although all comments received mentioned has mentioned potential clauses in the deed connecting with the site. It is important to notice that a deed is a private contract. It is only enforced through the parties that signed the deed and it is not a material consideration in a planning application. The decision is from a planning perspective only and is parallel to and other development requirements outside planning.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 7, 8 and Transport Policy 7 of the Strategic Plan. Therefore, it is recommended for approval.
8.0 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 which 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: 16.11.2020
Signed : P SHEN 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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