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                                      17/00695/C                                     Page  1  of  4

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 17/00695/C Applicant : Scott Duckworth Proposal : Change of use of premises from hairdressing salon to a dog grooming salon and other pet services Site Address : 26A Summerhill Road Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 1LY

Case Officer : Mr Jason Singleton Photo Taken :

Site Visit :

Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 19.10.2017 __

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.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This approval relates to the information submitted on 27th June 2017.

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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

Officer’s Report

THE APPLICATION IS BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSAL COULD BE CONSIDER CONTRARY TO THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN BUT IS RECOMMENDED FOR AN APPROVAL

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THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The application site is the curtilage of 26a Summerhill Road, Onchan. The property sits to the east of Summerhill Road and is part of a terrace except this property is single story with a flat roof, whilst the remaining properties either side are two stories with pitch tiled roof. The property was previously being used as a hairdressing salon, and prior to this as a kitchen and bathroom show room; a laundrette and dry cleaners.

PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the change of use from a hair dressing parlour to a dog grooming salon with some retail and treatments for dogs. The use of the salon is proposed to operate between 0900 - 1800 Monday to Saturday.

PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 02/02306/C - Change of use to kitchen and bathroom showroom. Approved.

87/04647/C - change of use from dry cleaners and laundrette. Approved. 84/00026/C Use of premises as laundrette. Approved.

PLANNING STATUS 4.1 In terms of local plan policy, the application site is within an area zoned as "predominately residential use" as identified within the Onchan Local Plan 2000 (Map No.1).

4.2 In terms of strategic plan policy, the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 contains the following policies that are considered specifically material to the assessment of this application;

4.3 General Policy 2 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: (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;

4.4 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: iii) vibration, odour, noise or light pollution.

4.5 Business Policy 10 states: "Retail development will be permitted only in established town and village centres, with the exceptions of neighbourhood shops in large residential areas and those instances identified in Business Policy 5."

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Onchan Commissioners recommend approval (26/07/17).

5.2 Highways Services sought a deferral of the application for the following reasons (20/07/17): "The premises is on a road where parking is restricted although loading is permitted. The use as a dog grooming salon is likely to involve dogs being dropped off and picked up at a later time, rather than the customer waiting for the length of the appointment. This is acceptable as cars can be parked elsewhere and dogs walked to the premises, or a car can load/unload at the kerbside.

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A matter of more concern is the use of the premises for dog massage therapy. In these circumstances the dogs are more likely to have restricted walking ability and the customer is going to spend longer dropping off / picking up the animal as there will be discussions regarding treatment, resulting in a higher incidence of a vehicle being parked illegally on the road outside the premises causing an obstruction.

The applicant should provide a statement detailing the number of vehicles that are expected and where they will be parked, paying particular attention to the concerns above. It may be the case that this is not the appropriate location for a therapy based service.

Highway Services requests that the application is deferred to allow the applicant to consider the above."

The applicant provided the following response (18.09.2017): which comments that the massage is not a therapy for rehabilitation of dogs just an add-on of our grooming services and does not require pick up and drop off at the door which may obstruct traffic outside. Further they comment that there is a parking space to the rear of the property should a client need any additional assistance with dogs. They conclude by stating that the services being provided should not alter the highway/traffic any more so than the previous use did. These comments were forwarded to Highway Services (18.09.2017) but no further comments have been received.

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The fundamental issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are; (i) the principle of development; (ii) the visual impact of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the existing dwelling, and (iii) the impact on the surrounding area and street scene. (iv) the impact upon the highway.

6.2 The proposed use is fairly unique in that it does not readily fall into any established use class and is not a common use. The area is zoned for residential but 5 doors up to the north along Summerhill road is an area zoned as retail and within the village of Onchan. Given the history and previous uses of the property is it acceptable the use other than residential is long standing. On the principle of the business being a commercial operation with some retail, it is considered that the proposed use would be acceptable to the area.

6.3 However, the grooming of dogs could involve the generation of noise from barking and the comings and goings of customers. In such facilities in built up areas, particularly residential, the use can result in a nuisance issues arising from the barking dogs. In this instance the dogs are to be kept indoors while being groomed and any noises from the premises would be contained within the building. Excessive barking could be addressed by those members of staff who are grooming the dogs as opposed to enduring the noise within the building themselves. It is not in the interests of those working within the building to have dogs barking loudly, frequently or constantly.

6.4 The proposed use would not be considered to be contrary to Environment Policy 22 where an unacceptable harm would be caused to the residents or other users of the adjoining buildings from noise pollution as the dogs would be cared for within the building. The impact of the use is likely to be similar to that of the former hairdressing use with the comings and goings of customers and as such the effect on amenity is suitably limited.

6.5 Regarding highways comments, the applicant has commented to say; "The massage is not a therapy for rehabilitation of dogs, just an add-on of our grooming services and does not require pick up and drop off at the door which may obstruct traffic outside the premises. There is parking space at the rear of the premises should a client need any additional assistance with dogs. In addition, no services being provided on said premises

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should alter nor affect the highway/traffic any more so than the previous use did. It should also be noted that until very recently the commercial building was used as a hair salon which would have created arguable greater need for parking space given a number of persons could have visited the premises at any one time.

CONCLUSION 7.1 For the above reasons, it is concluded that the planning application would not harm the use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties or the highway network and would comply with aforementioned planning policies of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and is recommended for approval.

INTERESTED PERSON STATUS 8.1 In line with Article 6(4) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure)(No2) Order 2013, the following Persons are considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings relating to the application: (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 (d) Highway Services Division of Department of Infrastructure and (e) The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated.

8.2 The decision-maker must determine: o whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than the Department of Infrastructure Highway Services Division) are material; and o whether there are other persons to those listed in Article 6(4) who should be given Interested Person Status. __

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:...27.11.2017

Signed :...J SINGLETON... 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

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.