Planning and Transport Statement
Planning, & Transport statement.
This statement is to provide background information in relation to the application for planning for Diamond House, Westmorland Road, Douglas.
This application is for the change of use of part of the building on the corner of Westmorland Road & Demense Road. The building has been subject to recent applications to change the use of other parts of the building already. The building was formerly a Car parts and industrial supplier outlet, with associated storage & warehousing.
The recent applications relate the current uses, namely "Hanleys" convenience store to Westmorland road & a hair & beauty parlour, which occupies space both at ground and first floor.
This application is for the change of use of the former storage & warehousing areas (now redundant) to a Gym. This will provide gym facilities over the first floor, with some areas for changing & solarium use on the ground floor. It could be considered that this is an extension of the hair & beauty treatment rooms.
The primary access for this new facility would be from Westmoreland Road, via new staircase access to the first floor. Incorporated in this new entrance area would be cycle parking & a cash machine facility to the new "shop-front" area at ground floor / street level.
The surrounding areas of the application are of single carriageway with a mix of on street & off street parking. Some areas are residential zones areas – some more "shopper" shorter term stay arrangement. There is a small amount of off street areas associated with the application site. These are located on Demense Road elevation.
The former use of the building required access from the road to the storage element of the site (Demense Road). The proposal will make this regular vehicular access redundant. However the pavement crossing can be utilised to afford access to off street parking adjacent the building.
It is intended that these be staff parking (3 spaces max).
The current use of the site has short term visitors – mainly, due to its location on foot as passing trade (particularly Hanley's convenience store.)
The proposal for a gym is to be targeted at a female only client base.
The sites' location aids this targeting in that it is on a main access route into the business district of Douglas. Furthermore the client research has identified that the majority of these users will be office based.
These office based clientele with therefore visit before and after working hours and possibly during the lunchtime period.
Gym users will already have parked their vehicles for the day at the office either in private / office parking spaces or in the multi story public car parks of Shaw's Brow & Circular road. Alternatively users could be walking past en route to & from the place of work.
The proposal includes the provision of cycle parking, which if proved popular could well be expanded as need grew. Another area of market target would be the "off peak" times. These would be times of mid morning & mid afternoon. 9-30 -12 & 2pm - 3.30. Traffic levels are much reduced at this time – as commuter traffic is already at it's destination.
Parking to serve this aspect could be the short to mid term street parking (up to 2 hrs stay on Westmorland road) or the use of the multi-storey spaces as previously identified.
The evening "afterhours" users would have the ability to utilise the on street parking as the permit / time restriction finishes at 6pm. Or these after users could well fall into the category as noted previously as being office based staff, that have already parked their vehicles.
The site is located on a number of bus routes, which provide access and transport links to both Douglas & further afield locations.
