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Application No.: 16/00259/B Applicant: Port St Mary Commissioners Proposal: Alterations, widening of roads, creation of additional parking bays and resurfacing works Site Address: Car Parking Associated With Barna Beg Port St. Mary Isle Of Man Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken: 06.04.2016 Site Visit: 06.04.2016 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee
THIS APPLICATION IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE BECAUSE THE INTERIM DIRECTOR OF PLANNING & BUILDING CONTROL HAS A PREJUDICIAL INTEREST IN THE APPLICATION.
1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is actually a pair of parcels of land located adjacent to Barna Beg and to the rear of Park Road in Port St. Mary. - 1.2 The much smaller of the two parcels is located north of 13 Barna Beg, and this is an area of highway that includes a pavement and road. - 1.3 The larger of the two parcels of land is located all along the rear of nos.1-18 Park Road, and onto which front nos.1-8 and nos.11 and 12 Barna Beg. This land is mainly hardstanding, though some - to the northern end - is scrubland that rises somewhat steeply in a western direction. There are also two garage blocks, which back onto nos.5-8 Barna Beg, those these are not shown on the submitted drawings. - 1.4 As originally submitted, the application had included a third parcel of land, this to the rear of The Paddocks located further southeast and off Queen's Road. However, following concern raised by local residents with regards the use of that land (a one-way system and recycling station to replace the existing parking), and ensuing discussions between the applicant (Port St. Mary Commissioners), the agent and Highway Services within the Department of Infrastructure, this element of the scheme was removed from consideration. Amended plans and a concomitant amended description excising reference to The Paddocks entirely were received and agreed respectively, and the application re-advertised accordingly.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Full planning approval is sought for works to the parcels of land to provide additional and more clearly defined parking areas. - 2.2 The pavement within the smaller parcel of land would be reduced in width and an additional parking space provided thereon. A dropped kerb and double yellow lines would be provided here.
2.3 A portion of the banking will be cut away and the land levelled and resurfaced (and marked out) to provide some 11 new parking spaces (one being specifically for disabled users). North of this, an additional seven spaces will be provided - four side-by-side, three parallel. Further south within the site, and in replacement of the existing garages, a somewhat haphazard arrangement for an additional six spaces is shown: two parallel (but separate), two angled side-by-side, and a further two in parallel, one of which would be specifically for disabled users. Between these six spaces and the existing dwellings' gardens would be erected a new hit-and-miss timber fence 1100mm in height and with a handrail-guarded staircase as well. Within this parcel of land, then, on which parking associated with the dwelling's garages was readily observed during the site visit, an additional 24 spaces would be provided.
3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 The land the subject of the application has not been the subject of any applications considered of material relevance to the assessment of this current application.
4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - 4.1 The smaller of the two sites is within an area zoned as Predominantly Residential on Map 7 of the Area Plan for the South. The larger of the two sites is split roughly 50/50 between that same zoning and the zoning of Golf Course - this latter zoning applies to the northern side of the site, which is currently partly laid to hardstanding and partly formed of a bank. It is not immediately clear why the car park area itself has been zoned as Golf Course when evidently it would not have been in that use at the time of the Area Plan's formulation / adoption. The land would also appear to be in the ownership of Port St. Mary Commissioners on the basis of the Land Ownership Certificates submitted with the application. No policies in the Area Plan apply to the proposal or the Golf Course zoning specifically. - 4.2 The application relates to the creation of new parking spaces on land zoned as Predominantly Residential and also (though somewhat strangely) Golf Course. With the present use of the land in mind, it is considered that the most appropriate policies to assess the application against are General Policy 2 and Transport Policies 5 and 7. - 4.3 General Policy 2 states (in part): "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:
4.4 Transport Policy 5 is helpful: "Any improvements to the Island's highway network, including the provision of new roads, footpaths, and cycle routes, should be undertaken in accordance with the environmental objectives of this plan." - 4.5 Transport Policy 7: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards."
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services offer no objection to the proposal on the basis that it no longer includes the works proposed to the rear of The Paddocks (31.03.2016).
5.2 As noted, the application was, in its original form, subject to fairly significant local objection. However, the objections received all related to the proposed use of the land adjacent The Paddocks, which no longer forms a part of the application. As such, while the comments are noted, it is not considered necessary to summarise these as they almost all relate to works that no longer form a part of the application. (In retrospect, it would have been cleaner for the applicant to submit the application afresh.) - 5.3 That being said, it remains appropriate to summarise comments from those representations that referred to the works still under consideration. Comments to that end were received from the occupiers of:
5.4 The comments made relating to the works still under consideration can be summarised as follows:
6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 From the site visit, two things were readily apparent. Firstly, there is a dearth of parking land serving the dwellings of Barna Beg - the site visit was conducted during the afternoon when the number of cars in the area could be expected to be at their lowest and yet, other than the very northern end of the site, the area was really quite heavily parked. The second and related point is that the cars were often parked in fairly random positions, reflecting the lack of markings in the area defining where the parking spaces are. It is therefore considered that additional parking, and in a more ordered and organised fashion than at present, is acceptable in principle. - 6.2 The detail really relates to whether or not the new parking would operate in the manner hoped for, and whether or not there is sufficient space for manoeuvring for those vehicles in the area. It is noted that Highway Services have no objection to the proposal and there does not seem to be a reason to object on this ground. - 6.3 The visual impact arising from the proposal's implementation will likely be positive. The loss of the garages will be of benefit. The addition of clearly marked parking bays will ensure (or, at least, guide) cars being parked in more neat and 'polite' fashion. The re-surfacing of the hardstanding at the north of the site would be an improvement over the random stone / pebble finish at present. The loss of part of the banking is perhaps a trifle unfortunate but in any case it is covered in scrubby vegetation, represents a proportionally small increase in the area of hardstanding, and moreover the specific part of the bank proposed to be removed is clearly not in any kind of active use in any case. The vast majority of the bank would be retained and its greenery would remain a dominant backdrop over the built environment in the area, which in any case is only visible for users of the car park.
7.0 RECOMMENDATION - 7.1 In view of the above, it is considered that while the proposal does represent a technical departure from the land use zoning, the benefits to be gained from it far outweigh this particular
issue in this circumstance. Therefore, in view of the favourable findings in respect of the assessment against the Strategic Plan's General Policy 2 and the Transport Policies, it is concluded that the application should be approved.
8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013, the following persons are automatically interested persons:
While all these people had a genuine interest in the application as originally submitted, they none of them live near enough to the amended application sites to be considered to be materially affected by the proposal.
Recommendation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 25.05.2016 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 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No2) Order 2013 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.
The development hereby approved relates to Drawings P01 Rev A and P02 Rev A, both datestamped as having been received 5th April 2016.
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:…20.06.2016
Signed :………E RILEY……….. 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
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