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Application No.: 17/01023/A Applicant: Mr Steven Gullick Proposal: Approval in principle for the creation of 3 residential plots including access Site Address: Field 230791 Douglas Road Kirk Michael Isle Of Man Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken: 31.10.2017 Site Visit: 31.10.2017 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 01.11.2017 _________________________________________________________________
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.
Reason: To ensure that the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 car parking standards are met in the interest of highway safety.
The development hereby approved relates to Drawings 01, 1, 2 and 3, all date-stamped as having been received 27th September 2017.
_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons
It is recommended that the following persons should be given Interested Person Status as they are considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 6(4):
THIS APPLICATION IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE BECAUSE THE LOCAL COMMISSIONERS HAVE OBJECTED TO THE NON-HOUSEHOLDER DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED BUT THE APPLICATION IS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL.
1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is an almost diamond-shaped parcel of land situated to the southwest of Douglas Road in Kirk Michael. At present, the land is void of structures. It is accessed via an existing highway access, formed of whitewashed and low-level stone walls, that serves a detached dwelling, 'Aniwa', that is situated behind (southwest of) the application site. Douglas Road is the TT course. There is a bank, with some fairly poor quality trees, that lines the highway: the access itself is also tree-lined, here with some rather healthier specimens. - 1.2 The surrounding land is residential in nature, with no particular unifying character, although there are fairly strong building lines on both sides of the highway - less so on the side of the application site, not least in part due to the openness of the application site itself.
2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION - 2.1 Planning Approval in Principle is sought for the erection of three dwellings on the site. Although indicative siting for the three dwellings has been shown, along with a commitment to retain all the trees on the site, the only detailed matter for consideration now is the site access. - 2.2 The access would be widened to 6m at the point it joins the highway, but for the majority of its length is shown as being retained at its current width. Included within the application is an email from the agent to Highway Services, in which it is noted that the visibility splay provided would be 2.4m by 90m, set 700mm from the road edge, in both directions. The submitted drawings confirm this statement, with neighbouring access / boundary treatment gates, walls and hedges all shown as being below 1050mm.
3.0 PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The site lies within an area zoned as Predominantly Residential on the Kirk Michael Local Plan. As such, the principle of residential development on this site is established in accordance with the land use zoning and also the matter sof principle as set out in Strategic Policy 10, Housing Policy 6 and Transport Policy 1 of the Strategic Plan. The issues at hand here will be whether or not three dwellings can be accommodated on the site satisfactorily, specifically in terms of (i) their impact on neighbouring living conditions, (ii) their impact on the streetscene, and (iii) the suitability of the access proposed. - 3.2 In order to make this assessment, reference is required to the following Strategic Plan policies:
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 The site has not been the subject of any applications considered to be of material relevance to the assessment of the current proposal. - 4.2 While there have been applications seeking approval for new dwellings on land associated with Cass A Lergy, just to the southeast of the current application site, that have proven more contentious and have been resisted by officers and the Planning Committee, those applications were submitted on land not zoned for development. - 4.3 However, it is helpful to note that the Inspector in assessing the first application, PA 15/00815/A, noted that the site was well-related to the village of Kirk Michael and that the application should not be refused on grounds of sustainability, although his overall conclusion was extremely finely balanced and his recommendation to approved based largely on the assurance that the dwellings sited on that land would maintain the existing building line, ensuring that the impact on the character / appearance of land zoned as countryside would be maintained.
5.1 Highway Services of the Department of Infrastructure offered no objection to the application on 17th October 2017, subject to the imposition of a couple of conditions:
"Reason: To ensure that the strategic plan car parking standards are met in the interest of highway safety."
5.2 Kirk Michael Commissioners objected to the application in a letter received 11th October
6.1 As noted, the principle of the erection of dwellings on this land is firmly established in the form of the Development Plan. What remains for consideration are three detailed matters.
6.2 With applications that do not provide full details of a dwelling design or siting, assessment of this issue can prove difficult. In this case, the submitted drawing showing potential siting is helpful in confirming that three dwellings of appropriate size / scale can be sited a minimum of 20m away from neighbouring properties. This is a 'rule of thumb' distance that proves helpful in judging impacts on, primarily, privacy. The concerns raised by the neighbouring dwellings' owners are understood, and over-reliance on the 20m 'rule of thumb' would avoid making a full assessment of the impacts of the development proposed. This is also true because Siting is actually a Reserved Matter for a future application such that approval to the current application would not also approve the dwellings' siting. - 6.3 However, it is important to bear in mind that the current application does not need to demonstrate how there will be an acceptable impact on neighbouring living conditions from the three dwellings shown: it needs only show that it is possible to ensure there will be a satisfactory relationship between the existing and proposed dwellings, and that dwellings could be sensitively designed in order to minimise such impacts. The submitted possible layout drawing is considered sufficient to conclude that it would be possible to site three dwellings on this land in compliance with part (g) of General Policy 2. It will require a careful design to this effect, and its freely accepted that the lack of detail at this stage will be unnerving to neighbours. However, there is nothing preventing such a design being achieved, and this is the key conclusion.
6.4 For similar reasons, it is considered that the helpful indicative siting plan demonstrates that three dwellings of appropriate scale, mass and siting relative to one another and the existing built environment could be satisfactorily designed and built on this land in a manner that would complement its context. - 6.5 As noted, there is no real architectural uniformity in the area, with a number of dwellings of really quite poor form. It is therefore hoped that any designer considering a Reserved Matters / Detailed application in future (should the current application be approved) would give careful deliberation to differentiating the external appearance of the dwellings here.
6.6 The comments of Highway Services are heavily relied upon. The access would need to accommodate the vehicle movements associated with four dwellings, and Highway Services' view is that it can (and should) be altered in the manner proposed.
7.1 For the reasons set out above, it is concluded that the application meets the relevant policy tests. A number of conditions are required, though, in respect of guiding appropriate development proposals in the form of any future Reserved Matters application that may be submitted. - 7.2 It is accepted that this conclusion will not be welcome to those who have raised wholly understandable and reasonably presented concerns. The concerns raised in many ways reflect the difficulty with applications seeking only Approval in Principle. It is perhaps worth reflecting on the importance of the word 'principle' in such applications' titles. The current application needs only demonstrate that there is nothing preventing a detailed scheme from being successfully designed in a manner that would avoid unduly adverse impact on the appearance, neighbouring living conditions, or highway safety of the area. For the reasons stated, it is concluded that the current application achieves this demonstration. Careful consideration will be needed for the future details, however, given the close proximity and varied orientation of the dwellings in the area, as well as the fact that the site is accessed from the TT course.
8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013 Article 6(4), the following persons are automatically interested persons:
8.2 The decision-maker must determine:
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:…13.11.2017
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 See below
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