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20/00912/B Page 1 of 4
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 20/00912/B Applicant : Mr John Feeney & Miss Amy Cowan Proposal : Erection of an extension to side elevation and installation of a dormer window Site Address : 31 Wybourn Drive Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 4AT
Senior Planning Officer: Mr Jason Singleton Photo Taken : Site Visit : 02.09.2020 Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 25.09.2020 __
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 alterations would be an appropriate form of development that does not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties and designed to comply with General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan and the Residential Design Guide.
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This approval relates to drawings referenced; JTM2022-P-00, JTM2022-P-01, date stamped received on 11 August 2020. __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
1.0 THE SITE
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20/00912/B Page 2 of 4
1.1 The application site is the residential curtilage of No.31 Wyborn Drive, Onchan. The property is a detached dwelling with a steeply pitched roof with windows in each gable and a flat roof dormer on the front elevation indicating accommodation in the roof space.
1.2 The property sits on the corner of Wybourn Drive to the north and Wybourn Grove to the East. The property is characterised by gardens to the three elevations with parking to the side (west) giving access to the attached flat roof garage. The properties boundary with the highway is a 2.0m+ high griselinia hedging that wraps around the curtilage.
1.3 The character of the street scene is generally detached dwellinghouses, with evidence of accommodation in the roof space using flat roof dormers, flat roof garages, some of which have been converted to habitable accomodation seeing the garage doors removed and windows installed in the opening and infilled where necessary to match the dwellinghouse.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the installation of a flat roof dormer on the rear elevation roof scape, and a flat roof side extension on the east elevation measuring a footprint of 5m x 5m and would be no higher than the existing flat roof garage on the opposite elevation.
2.2 The proposal will allow for a reconfiguration of the internal space to allow for the creation of a larger living room and an extra bedroom and an extra bathroom to the first floor.
3.0 PLANNING POLICY 3.1 In terms of local plan policy, the application site is within an area recognised as being predominately residential use under the Onchan Local Plan 2000 There is one policy within the written statement (Planning Circular 1/2000) that accompanies the Onchan local Plan that is considered specifically material to the assessment of planning application:
3.2 Policy O/RES/P/21 states: "Extensions and alterations to existing residential property will generally not be opposed where such proposals are appropriate in terms of scale, massing, design, appearance and impact on adjacent property."
3.3 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered specifically material to the assessment of this application; General Policy 2 (GP2) (in part) (b,c,g) 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:
3.4 Paragraph 8.12.1 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 states: "As a general policy, in built up areas not controlled by Conservation Area or Registered Building policies, there will be a general presumption in favour of extensions to existing property where such extensions would not have an adverse impact on either adjacent property or the surrounding area in general."
3.6 Other Material Considerations The Department has recently published the Residential Design Guidance (March 2019) which provides advice on the design of new houses and extensions to existing property as well as how to assess the impact of such development on the living conditions of those in adjacent residential property. This includes specific guidance on rear and side extensions in Section 4.0 titled; Types of House Holder Extension.
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 16/00045/B - Replacement of existing glazed conservatory roof with a new roof with light weight roof tiles. Approved.
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20/00912/B Page 3 of 4
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Onchan District Commissioners commented (22/09/20) with no objection.
5.2 Highways Services do not object (No Highways Interest) 28.08.20
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are; (i) visual impact of the proposed development; (GP2(b) & (c)) (ii) the impact upon the amenities (overlooking, loss of light; over bearing impact, privacy and visual amenity) of the neighbouring properties. (GP2(g))
(i) Visual impact 6.2 The presence of dormer extension in the streetscene are common place so the principle of this method of adding more accommodation is acceptable and not introducing a new design element. Being on the rear elevation the proposed dormer would not be apparent from the highway to the front and being more biased to the south west corner of the roof scape and its size does not dominate the roofscape, and minimises any visual impact.
6.3 The flat roof extension to the east elevation would still leave a large proportion of the rear garden for amenity use and given the character of the area, being detached buildings with flat roof extensions, flat roof garages, or converted garages, this would be an acceptable method of extending given the existing character of the area. The footprint size is larger than a domestic garage would be, however not so large that it would be deemed unacceptable in terms of floorspace. Given the mature hedging on the boundary and the agent notes on the application for the hedgerow will be unaffected by this development, gives a degree of comfort that the majority of the elevation won't be visible from the highway and only the upper proportions could become visible. Thought was given to either adding a pitched roof to the extension or extending the existing ridge level, however this would drastically increase the visual impact on the character of the property and could be seen as over development of the site. In this case it is not so apparent that a refusal decision could be warranted solely on the basis of a flat roof, given the existing charcter of the street scene. These aspects are deemed to be an acceptable form of development that is proportionate to the dwellinghouse and complies with those sections of General Policy 2(b) & (c).
6.3 (ii) Neighbouring amenities With regard to the above, the level and scale of development proposed are considered to be relatively modest and not judged to cause harm to the enjoyment of the neighbouring amenity. The views out from the proposed rear dormer would be over the rear garden of the application site and out towards the rear of No.33 Wybourn Grove. The intermediate distances here measures 20m between the respective rear elevations and in would be read accordance with the RDG page 18 concerning overlooking and loss of privacy which is unlikely to be detrimental to those occupants of No.33. It was further noted the windows to the rear dormer would serve a bathroom/ shower room and a bedroom. In this case the alterations to the rear and side elevations would be considered to be compliant with those sections of General Policy 2(g).
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 The alterations would be an appropriate form of development that does not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties and designed to comply with General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan and the Residential Design Guide.
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);
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(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: 09.10.2020
Determining officer Signed : C BALMER
Chris Balmer
Principal Planner
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