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Application No.: 16/00447/C Applicant: Mr Hugh & Mrs Jean Davies Proposal: Change of use from tourist accommodation to residential use Site Address: The Old Police Station Strand Road Port Erin Isle Of Man IM9 6HB Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken: 18.05.2016 Site Visit: 18.05.2016 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee
THIS APPLICATION IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AT THE REQUEST OF THE INTERIM DIRECTOR OF PLANNING & BUILDING CONTROL.
1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is a roughly rectangular parcel of land within which sits the residential curtilage of The Old Police Station on Strand Road in Port Erin, along with a small, attached tourist unit. Adjacent the site to the immediate north is a car park, while in the immediate vicinity the buildings are residential in use. Nearby, though, is the commercial centre of the village. - 1.2 The Old Police Station is a dwelling of somewhat unusual form. Though in some ways it has classic Manx countryside proportions, it also has a very grand portico complete with pillars and set within which is a similarly grand front door with side lights. Moreover, the proportions of the windows at first floor are not equal, while to its side elevation is a most uncommon double-height curved bay feature that sits between the corner of the property and the externally expressed chimney stack and flue. There is also a single storey extension to the rear that is readily visible from Strand Street and is perhaps the most incongruous element of the building. It is, however, judged to be an attractive and characterful building, and one that positively contributes to the area. - 1.3 The tourist accommodation sits to the side of the ground floor and occupies roughly 40% of that floor; access thereto is provided via a door set within the entrance hall behind portico entrance.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL AND RELEVANT PLANNING HISTORY - 2.1 The application seeks to change the use of the tourist accommodation to residential and subsume the tourist unit within The Old Police Station: in place of the existing kitchen, lounge, bedroom and shower room is shown a study, a new utility room, a bedroom and a shower room. - 2.2 No external changes are proposed. - 2.3.1 The agent has submitted a short statement outlining the history of the site and the basis for the application. In 1994, change of use of part of the ground floor to a chiropodist surgery was approved, and which was run by Mrs Davies (one of the applicants). When Mrs Davies retired, the rooms in use as that business were partly converted to residential use following planning approval being granted under PA 05/00074/B to allow for the erection of the single storey extension. The remaining rooms previously in use for the chiropodist were subsequently converted under PA 06/00142/C to the one-bedroom tourist unit that is now the subject of this application. The tourist let was closed as of 1st January 2014.
2.4 The agent was asked to clarify certain points with respect to the take-up of the unit and also why the applicants ceased letting it as of 1st January 2014. He commented as follows: "The tourist accommodation was original set up as a part-time business to provide a supplementary income after Mrs. Davies retired as a chiropodist. The annex was mainly used to target the T.T and MGP rental periods. For the rest of the year it was used as part of Mr. & Mrs. Davies living accommodation for their own use and for when friends and family visited from the UK. They never intended or promoted the tourist accommodation as a full time business. "As a guide to recent rentals:
"Mr & Mrs Davies have now fully retired and are moving to the UK to be with their family and grandchildren. They stopped taking bookings at the end of 2013 and put the house on the market.
"The property is primarily a single dwelling with the ability to close off the annex to provide fairly self-contained tourist accommodation. However, this does have some impact on the owners privacy and use of the house during rental periods and it is unreasonable to impose this on any potential purchaser."
3.1 The site falls just on the edge of two zonings in the Area Plan for the South: it is within an area zoned as Mixed Use, while the land immediately south is Predominantly Residential. - 3.2 The Strategic Plan General Policy 2 is probably the most relevant in this case:
"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:
3.3 Since the Strategic Plan contains no policies with respect to a presumption one way or another in terms of assessing applications such as this, it is worth noting Business Policies 11 and 13. - 3.4 Business Policy 11 (in part): "Tourism development must be in accordance with the sustainable development objectives of this plan; policies and designations which seek to protect the countryside from development will be applied to tourist development with as much weight as they are to other types of development." - 3.5 Business Policy 13: "Permission will generally be given for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation providing that it can be demonstrated that such use would not compromise the amenities of neighbouring residents."
3.6 The following paragraphs that appear before BP11 are also well worth noting:
" 'Long term development is also being hindered by the lack of bed spaces in general and of the quality now being required to service our customer's base in particular. It is a necessary requirement that existing bed stock continues to upgrade and the Department will ensure appropriate support is put in place to enable existing business to develop. In addition the Department also needs to provide support for the building of new bed stock on an Island wide basis.
" 'There also needs to be recognition that the local property market can have a major impact on future tourism development. If there is a continued loss of traditional resort accommodation taking advantage of the high cost of residential property then there will be a heavy reliance on new build hotels if serviced stock levels are to be retained or increased.'
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services of the DoI offered no objection to the proposal on 28.04.2016, while Port Erin Commissioners resolved to support it on 11.05.2016.
5.2 Although Tourism within the Department of Economic Development were not directly contacted for their views, they have in the very recent past noted that they do not generally object to the loss of individual tourist units.
6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The use of the accommodation as residential, to match that of the main dwelling, will likely be of benefit to neighbouring living conditions for two reasons. Firstly, there can be some concern arising from noise nuisance or additional coming and going associated with a tourist use while, secondly, having one defined unit of accommodation within the building rather than the present two will reduce demand for on-street parking in the area. Both of these points - though limited weight is given to the first as no positive comments to this specific end have been received - go in favour of the application. Moreover, the tourist unit is situated within an evidently sustainable location, with good access to services, and accordingly it is concluded that residential accommodation here is acceptable, with General Policy 2 clearly being met. - 6.2 The most significant concern, then, is with respect to the loss of an existing tourist unit. It was evidently viable for a number of years; since January 2014 no data is available and so no conclusion can be drawn as to the potential viability of the unit since that time. It remains appropriate to consider how much protection should be afforded the loss of this unit, noting that DED's Tourism team would be unlikely to offer an objection, though it is difficult to know how to make such an assessment. - 6.3 Perhaps the main issue is the quality of the accommodation on offer. In this case, the tourist unit is likely to be considered attractive to potential consumers in view of the nature of the dwelling, but perhaps not at the 'high end' of offer when it is borne in mind the position of the property close to the town centre and with precious little views to speak of. It is concluded that there are likely to be plenty of similar kinds of accommodation in Port Erin such that the loss of this one unit would not be so serious as to warrant the application's refusal. This is something of a balanced conclusion, and is one relying in part on supposition (the lack of comment from DED's Tourism team makes full assessment difficult), but it remains the case that there does not appear to be sufficient evidence, or any other material considerations, on which to base anything other than a recommendation to approve. - 6.4 It is recommended that a condition be attached requiring the new rooms to form a part of the residential curtilage of The Old Police Station. While the plans are clear as to how the new and old rooms would come together for use as a single Planning unit, for the avoidance of doubt and in view of the need for the proposal as outlined in the supporting statement a condition to this effect would provide certainty for all.
7.0 RECOMMENDATION - 7.1 In view of the above assessment, it is concluded that the application should be approved subject to the condition described.
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:
Recommendation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 13.06.2016 Conditions and Notes for Approval: C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
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.
Reason: To avoid sub-division of the Planning unit, which would in itself require separate and further assessment.
The development hereby approved relates to Drawings 1604/01, 1604/02 and 1604/03, all datestamped as having been received 19th 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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