Planning Division Statement

Statement of the Planning & Building Control Division of the Department of Infrastructure

Application No: 11/01737/B Proposal: Extension to existing external seating area, Address: café at Admiral House 12-13 Loch Promenade, Douglas, Isle of Man Applicant: M H E Investments Ltd

Introduction

1. This application seeks permission to extend an existing external seating area which serves a café located with the ground floor of Admiral House, 12-13 Loch Promenade, Douglas. The development involves land that is owned by the Department of Infrastructure of which the Planning and Building Control Division forms part. As such, given that the Department could be perceived to have an interest in the application due to its ownership of part of the site, the following report sets out a summary of the proposal, the planning policies judged to be relevant and an overview of what are considered to be the main issues raised by the proposal.

The Site

1. The application site is the curtilages of Admiral House, 12-13 Loch Promenade and part of the pavement which abuts the build on its southern side. Admiral House is a prominent Victorian building situated on the corner of Loch Promenade and Regent Street. There is an existing café on the ground floor accessed from Regent Street. An outside seating area enclosed by raised planters at each end a barrier along the front is provided on part of the pavement area to the Regent Street side of the building.

The Proposal

1. This application seeks approval to enlarge the external seating area. This would be achieved mainly by extending it towards Loch Promenade, however the existing end planter would be repositioned further to the west and the barriers would be relocated outwards slightly. Additional barriers would be positioned along the outer extent of the external seating area. These would extend around onto Loch Promenade leaving a 2 metre access to the basement level of Admiral House.

Development Plan Policies

1. The application site is located within an area of Douglas that is identified by the Douglas Local Plan 1998 as being ‘Predominantly Tourism’. The site is within the Douglas Promenades Conservation Area. Within the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2007, the following policies are judged to be relevant:

General Policy 2, which states:

“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:

(a) is in accordance with the design brief in the Area Plan where there is such a brief; (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; (d) does not adversely affect the protected wildlife or locally important habitats on the site or adjacent land, including water courses; (e) does not affect adversely public views of the sea; (f) incorporates where possible existing topography and landscape features, particularly trees and sod banks; (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; (j) can be provided with all necessary services; (k) does not prejudice the use or development of adjoining land in accordance with the appropriate Area Plan; (l) is not on contaminated land or subject to unreasonable risk of erosion or flooding; (m) takes account of community and personal safety and security in the design of buildings and the spaces around them; and (n) is designed having due regard to best practice in reducing energy consumption."

Environment Policy 35, which states:

"Within Conservation Areas, the Department will permit only development which would preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Area, and will ensure that the special features contributing to the character and quality are protected against inappropriate development."

Planning History

1. The following previous planning applications are considered relevant to the determination of this proposal:

99/02250/B – Creation of an outside seating area. Permitted.

07/01785/B – (a) Alterations and conversion of existing bedrooms into coffee shop and hotel lounge bar (APPROVED at appeal); and (b) erection of two canvas canopies and one glazed canopy and creation of external seating area (REFUSED at appeal) for the following reason:

"The proposed development would be inimical to the safety and convenience of road users, in that:

(a) The proposed seating area would reduce the effective width of the footway at a point where there is already a potential hazard to pedestrians caused by manoeuvring of commercial vehicles; and

(b) If the footway were to be narrowed as proposed, it would be likely to become more congested on occasions, with consequent interruptions to the free flow of pedestrian traffic.

07/01880/D – Application of advertising for canopies and barriers. Permitted

Main Issues

1. The key issues to be assessed in the determination of this application are judged to be the impact of the proposal upon the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and the highway implications of the proposal.

Conservation Area

1. The area is within a designated Conservation Area and accordingly EP35 requires any new development to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area. There is an existing external seating area in place and this gives a good indication of what the proposal would look like within the streets cene of Regent Street and Loch Promenade.

1. The previous appeal inspector did not consider that the proposal would detract from the character or appearance of the Conservation Area. It is judged that the barriers, being just less than 1 metre in height, would not appear as an overly prominent feature of this part of the Conservation Area.

Highways

1. A previous application (07/01785/B) included a proposal for a seating area and resulted in a split decision at appeal where the external seating area was refused. The inspector concluded that the reduction in the width of the useable pavement area would prejudice highway safety (a copy of the inspector's report is appended).

1. This proposal is similar to that which was refused and accordingly this is a material consideration to this scheme. The distance from the edge of the barrier to the edge of the pavement would be 2.12 metres. The Highways Division, having assessed the scheme does not oppose this application. Their specific comments on the application area as follows:

1. "The Guidelines on the use of the Public Highway for Pavement Cafes was used when determining what the minimum unobstructed width between the front edge of the pavement café area and the face of the kerb. Within the guidelines we are provided with various options depending upon traffic speed/volume and pedestrian volumes. From numerous observations of this location I opted to choose:

"Street with high volume of pedestrian traffic and low volume of slow speed vehicular traffic: 2.0m"

The applicant is providing an unobstructed footway of 2.1 metres. The existing external seating area provides an unobstructed footway of 2.2 metres.

The repositioning of the planter towards Villiers Lane by 0.5 metres will not create any manoeuvrability problems for delivery drivers or impede pedestrian traffic.

It is important to note that the existing Pavement Café has been in operation for well over a year, during the most heavily congested periods of TT Week with no issues or complaints being received from either vehicle drivers, pedestrians or disabled drivers. Therefore, this proposed development would not present any safety concerns for road users."

Recommended Conditions

1. Should the appointed person be minded to recommend to the Council of Ministers that this application be approved, the Planning and Building Control Division would suggest that the following conditions be attached:

C1. The development hereby permitted shall commence before the expiration of four years from the date of this notice.

C2. This permission relates to the extension of existing seating area, Café at Admiral House, 12-13 Loch Promenade, Douglas as shown by Location, AT1125.1, AT1125.2 and AT 1125.4 received 19th December 2011.

This statement has been prepared on behalf of the Planning & Building Control Divisions of the Department of Infrastructure by:

Signed...

Date...

Steven Stanley MA TRP Planning Officer