Officer Report

Application No.: 16/01378/C Applicant: Mr Robert Cowell Proposal: Change of use of premises from a chiropodist to an ice cream parlour Site Address: Chiropody Surgery Adjacent To Brookdale Parliament Square Ramsey Isle Of Man IM8 1AH Case Officer : Miss Abigail Morgan Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation

Officer’s Report

1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 1.1 The application site is a single storey unit on Lyndley Car Park at Parliament Street, Ramsey. The unit is attached to a 2 ½ property known as Brookdale House which, which sits on the corner of Parliament Square and Taubman Street. The application unit sits on the corner of Parliament Square and a rear access lane for properties on Taubman Street and Parliament Street which links up with Christian Street. - 1.2 Along the car park are 4 units consisting of retail, office and food uses. - 1.3 Nos 1 and 3 Taubman Street appears to be in residential use.

2.0 THE PROPOSAL - 2.1 The application is for the change of use from chiropody surgery to ice cream parlour. The sale of cold food for consumption off the premises is Class 1. - 2.2 There are no external alterations proposed as part of this application, albeit internally some stud walling is proposed to enable creation of a store and W.C. This would result in one of the windows being blanked out by the creation of the internal wall.

3.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 Planning permission was granted in 1994 (94/00912/C) for change of use from retail to chiropody surgery.

4.0 PLANNING STATUS AND POLICY - 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as 'Mixed Use - Town Centre' on the Ramsey Local Plan - 4.2 There is one policy within the Ramsey Local Plan (Planning Circular 2/99), considered specifically relevant to the assessment of this current planning application:

Policy R/TC/P1 Retail Uses States: "There will be a general presumption in favour of retention of retail uses at ground floor level in the main shopping streets (Peel Street, Bourne Place, Market Hill, Market Place (West), Parliament Street (excluding Auckland Terrace), East Street, Parliament Square (East Side). Office Uses

(including finance related establishments) at ground floor level will not be permitted to occupy 30% of the street frontage in any one block between public and vehicular highways in these streets."

4.2 Also relevant is General Policy 2, which 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:

• (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;

• (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;

4.3 Environment Policy 22 states: "Development will not be permitted where it would unacceptably harm the environment and/or the amenity of nearby properties in terms of:

• i) pollution of sea, surface water or groundwater;
• ii) emissions of airborne pollutants; and
• iii) vibration, odour, noise or light pollution."

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Ramsey Commissioners offer no objection, but make the following observations, 26.01.16; The intended hours of operation should be established and should be set down as a condition of any approval. - 5.2 DOI Highways make the following observations, 12.01.17; The proposal is to change the use of a premises from a chiropodist to an ice cream parlour. The site is within Ramsey Town centre with public car parking both on and off street in the local. Highway Services does not oppose this application.

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The main issues are principle of the use and impact of living conditions of nearby residential properties. - 6.2 The principle of the use is considered is accordance with the zoning of the area, in particular Policy R/TC/P1 which encourages the retention of retail in this area. - 6.3 Taking forward the application as an Ice Cream Parlour falling within Class 1 the main issue with regards to impact on living conditions of neighbouring properties, particularly nos 1 and 3 Taubman Street, would be noise and disturbance from customers. - 6.4 The main consideration in this regard is the proposed opening hours. The applicant is keen to have wide opening hours to make the most of the season available for selling ice creams and it is proposed to have a condition with 9am to 9pm opening hours. - 6.5 It is considered that these are not anti-social hours and given the location in a mixed use area and near to other food operators would be acceptable. This would also address the observations made by the Commissioners. - 6.6 As such the proposal accords with the General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and Policy R/TC/P1 of the Ramsey Local Plan.

7.0 RECOMMENDATION - 7.1 In view of the above the application is recommended for approval, subject to conditions in respect of the Use Classes 1 and opening hours are recommended for clarity.

8.0 PARTY STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013, the following persons 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 or any other person in whose interest the land becomes vested;
• (c) Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material , in this case, Department of Infrastructure Highway Services and
• (d) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated.

With effect from 1 June 2015, the Transfer of Planning & Building Control Functions Order 2015 amends the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 to give effect to the meaning of the word 'Department' to be the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture unless otherwise directed by that Order.

Recommendation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 17.02.2017 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.

• C 2. The premises may be used for any purpose under Class 1 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2012 - Class 1 Shops.

Reason: to control the use of the premises as proposed and in accordance with the Use Classes Order.

• C 3. No customers shall be served or remain in the building outside the following hours - 0900 hours to 2100 hours. Reason: To safeguard the residential amenity of nearby occupiers.

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: 20.02.2017

Determining officer

Signed : S CORLETT Sarah Corlett Senior Planning Officer

Customer note

This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the file copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online services/customers and archive records.