Officer Report

Application No.: 16/00661/CON Applicant: The Co-Operative Group Proposal: Registered Building consent for the erection of non-illuminated signage (in association with 16/00660/D) Registered Building Nos. 32 Site Address: The Co-op The Parade Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1LG Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE SITE - 1.1 The application site is the curtilage of the Co-Operative shop in Castletown, which is Registered Building No.32 and has been in the ownership of the Co-Operative group of companies for many decades. The shop lies on the southwestern side of The Parade and sides onto the lane leading to Farrant's Way behind. To the south, attached to the application building is 7 The Parade, which is a private residence and also Registered (RB No.37). The building is three storeys in height and has a shop front to The Parade, within which is also the Post Office for the town. - 1.2 The unit has above its shopfront a timber backboard with pole-mounted lettering, expressing the name of the shop business operating from the site. Either site of this are attached vinyl signs for the Post Office. A projecting sign just to the right of the entrance door is also present. None of these signs is illuminated.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 Registered Building Consent is sought to replace the two vinyl signs and the one projecting sign. The existing 'The co-operative food' pole-mounted lettering would be removed and replaced with pole-mounted acrylic lettering stating instead 'Welcome to Castletown's Co-op'. The timber backboard is to be retained and painted brown as well as made good following the removal of the existing lettering poles. Also proposed is a new projecting sign, which would be timber and acrylic, and in place of the existing sign, and hung from a steel bracket. Finally, a replacement vinyl sign for the Isle of Man Post Office is to be installed alongside the pole-mounted lettering, to the right as one looks at the shop frontage: two signs of this identical design are currently in place. None of the signage is to be illuminated. - 2.2 This application is accompanied by an identical application seeking Express Consent for the same works. Both state that the advertisements would be in place for a period of five years only. - 2.3 It would appear that the current application reflects a change to the company branding.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 This application, along with the accompanying identical application seeking Express Consent, reflect efforts on the part of the owner of the building to renovate and alter it - which is also in common with other renovation work proposed to the same owner's properties across the Island.

• The works at this site, to include alterations to the shopfront, new fire exit door and safety railings, internal alterations as well as replacement windows, have been approved or granted consent under applications carrying the reference numbers 15/01090/GB, 15/01091/CON, 14/00697/GB and 14/00698/CON. Also approved very recently were a pair of applications seeking Consent for the erection of new advertisements under PAs 16/00218/D and 16/00219/CON.
• 3.2 The site has also been the subject of a scheme to enable the construction of the plant on the roof of the building, which appears to have been especially controversial, initially being refused in 2008 (PAs 08/02269/R and 08/02270/CON), following which another proposal was refused in 2010 (PAs 10/00761/GB and 10/00762/CON) before eventually an acceptable scheme was approved also in 2010 (PAs 10/01197/GB and 10/01198/CON).

4.0 DEVELOPMENT PLAN POLICIES - 4.1 The site lies within an area designated as Mixed Use on the Area Plan for the South 2012. The site lies within the Castletown Conservation Area (designated in 1990) and, as noted, both the application site and its adjoining neighbouring building is Registered. In fact, a number of buildings in the area, which sits nearby Castle Rushen, are also Registered. - 4.2 With all this in mind, it is considered that the relevant policies of the Strategic Plan are General Policy 6 and Environment Policies 32 and 37. The policies within Planning Policy Statement 1/01 (Policy and Guidance Notes for the Conservation of the Historic Environment of the Isle of Man) are not considered to apply to this proposal as none of those relate to advertisements. - 4.3 General Policy 6 reads: "Within our towns and villages, the display of external advertisements will be permitted on the site or building to which they relate provided they:

• (a) are of a high standard of design and materials and relate well to the building and site on which they are to be displayed;
• (b) are in keeping with and do not detract from the surrounding area; and
• (c) are located so as not to cause a highway safety hazard."

4.4 Environment Policy 32 states: "Extensions or alterations to a Registered Building which would affect detrimentally its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest will not be permitted." - 4.5 Environment Policy 37 reads as follows: "As a general policy, advertisements within Conservation Areas will be permitted only if:

• (i) the proposal preserves or enhances the Conservation Area;
• (ii) the signage is in a style appropriate to the character of the area;
• (iii) traditional materials and finishes are used and glossy and highly reflective materials are excluded from proposals; and
• (iv) internally illuminated box fascia and projecting box signs are excluded from the proposals."

It is considered that EP37 should carry much greater weight than GP6 though both are valuable to be considered together.

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 No comments have been received in respect of this application, though both Highway Services of the Department of Infrastructure and Castletown Commissioners offered no objection to the concomitant application seeking Express Consent on 22.06.2016 and 11.07.2016 respectively.

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 Generally speaking, applicants seeking Registered Building Consent are expected to justify their proposals. The extent to which this justification has to be made depends on the importance of the building and also the scale of the changes proposed. In the previous application for this site,

• what was proposed was limited in scale and would, on an objective reading, revitalise the existing signage by replacing somewhat tired and faded examples with newer versions of what is ostensibly a very limited change from that already in place. As such, the proposal was welcomed and concluded to be in compliance with the relevant Development Plan policies.
• 6.2 On this occasion it is undeniable that the proposal falls short of this positive view, purely through the use of the acrylic rather than timber material. However, the existing signage remains tired in appearance and, similarly to earlier in the year, its rejuvenation would be welcomed. The use of pole-mounted lettering is entirely appropriate for this important building and, while timber would certainly be preferred, the lettering would be very small and unobtrusive.
• 6.3 As such, it is concluded that the proposal, while certainly not as well-considered as that previously submitted (and which will remain extant for some years yet), is acceptable in the context of EP37 and accordingly it is recommended that Consent be issued.

7.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 7.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Registered Buildings) Regulations 2013, the following are automatically interested persons:

• (a) The applicant, or if there is one, the applicant's agent;
• (b) The owner and the occupier of any land that is the subject of the application;
• (c) Manx National Heritage, and
• (d) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated.

Recommendation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 02.08.2016 Conditions and Notes for Approval: C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions C 1. The works hereby granted registered building consent shall be begun before the expiration of four years from the date of this consent.

Reason: To comply with paragraph 2(2)(a) of schedule 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented registered building consents.

The express consent hereby issued relates to the eight sheets of plans and information, all datestamped as having been received 13th June 2016.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Senior Planning Officer in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 04.08.2016

Determining officer

Signed : S CORLETT Sarah Corlett Senior Planning Officer

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