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17/00753/B Page 1 of 8
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 17/00753/B Applicant : Dandara Commercial Limited Proposal : Conversion of ground floor of office building to create coffee shop, with retention of office use above Site Address : Park House Isle Of Man Business Park Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 2SA
Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken : 22.08.2017 Site Visit : 22.08.2017 Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 25.09.2017 __
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 approved use of the First Floor and Attic Floor of Park House, as shown on Drawing APL- 01 (date-stamped as having been received 14th July 2017) shall be restricted to Use Class 4 of the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development Order) 2012.
Reason: In order to control the use of the building in line with the Braddan Local Plan and Business Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016.
C 3. The number of covers within the approved café use shall not, unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing with the Department, exceed 70.
Reason: In the interest of highway safety and provision of sufficient parking spaces for the Isle of Man Business Park Service Centre.
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Plans/Drawings/Information;
The development hereby approved relates to Drawings APL-01 and APL-02, both date-stamped as having been received 14th July 2017.
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None. __
Officer’s Report
THIS APPLICATION IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMITTEE OWING TO THE NATURE OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED, WHICH MAY BE CONSIDERED CONTRARY TO THE LOCAL PLAN ZONING AND STRATEGIC PLAN POLICIES RELATING TO OUT OF TOWN RETAILING AND OFFICE DEVELOPMENT.
1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The application site includes Park House (along with some 28 associated car parking spaces), which is a two-storey office building with floorspace in the roofspace and situated within what is sometimes called the 'service centre' of the Isle of Man Business Park.
1.2 The building was originally built under the 1995 approval issued to the 'Business Park Service Centre', which included a public house, shop, nursery and showroom. Park House was essentially a site manager's building, but subsequently had this use varied to include offices uses in 2003, which was (and is) more in keeping with the overall approval of the Business Park as a whole: namely, corporate headquarters where there are no visiting members of the public.
2.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED 2.1 Full planning approval is sought for the change of use of the ground floor of Park House, as well as for a replacement of an existing window with a set of patio doors at the rear (southwest) elevation, with the existing and approved office uses on the floors above being retained in their approved office use.
2.2 A letter from the agent has been included within the application. The letter states as follows:
o Park House is within an area of existing community buildings; o the Isle of Man Business Park (IoMBP) also includes areas that have been developed for residential dwellings; o Park House was originally occupied by Dandara as the developer of the IoMBP, in order that it may continue to develop the IoMBP and provide post-completion services to users; o the inclusion of the coffee shop would be in keeping with the intended purpose of, and other uses within, the IoMBP Service Centre, and would serve the uses of the IoMBP as well as local residents; o the area is not currently served by an establishment for food and hot beverages with seating, other than the public house that may be considered inappropriate for informal business meetings; o research by the intended operator of the coffee shop suggests that the 3,500 office workers (when the latest developments are completed) will be welcomed above and beyond the existing public house and takeaway facilities;
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o there are 28 car parking spaces dedicated to users of Park House, plus general spaces in the communal car park, and the IoMBP Service Centre is within walking distance of the surrounding employment and residential areas; o customers will use the coffee shop throughout the day and not during peak hours, whereas the nature of a business headquarters is such that workers tend to arrive in the morning and leave in the evening - contributing to busy traffic; o Dandars relocated away from Park House in 2006, resulting in Park House being approved for office use, and that office use is intended to continue on the first and second floors of the building; o "We are aware that office uses on the IoMBP should not be of a type that provide services principally to visiting members of the public, and as such we would suggest a planning condition which simply restricts use of the office floors to Use Class 4, and not Use Class 2, would be a more straightforward and appropriate way of achieving this than conditions which have been used in the past"; o with the need that has been defined for such a use as this, and noting that the IoMBP Service Centre is to serve users of the IoMBP, "including local residents", policies in respect of Business Park uses and that seek to restrict out-of-town commercial uses are not applicable in this instance.
2.3 It is worth noting that the 2006 vacation of Park House by Dandara was not accompanied by a planning application in that year. The only application that seems to be relevant is one submitted in 2009, and which relates to a detached annex of Park House. Details of this are outlined in paragraph 3.2 below.
2.4 In view of the content of the abovementioned letter, it is worth noting in full the two Use Classes mentioned:
Class 2 - Financial and Professional Services:
"Use for the provision of -
(a) financial services (including the services of a bank, building society or insurance broker); (b) professional services (other than health or medical services), including estate agency, but excluding legal or architectural services; (c) a betting office; (d) a booking office for a driving school; or (e) a job centre,
"where the services are provided principally to visiting members of the public."
Class 4 - Offices:
"Use as an office other than a use within Class 2."
2.5 In response to some queries raised by the case officer, the agent commented as follows:
"Further to your mail below and our subsequent conversation, I'm pleased to address the points raised by yourself and by DoI Highway Services.
"Park House has been unoccupied for more than a year, despite continued marketing of its availability. The ground floor of the building currently accommodates approximately 183 sq.m of net office floor space.
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"As discussed, the application seeks to convert the whole building to coffee shop & office use, it does not refer solely to the proposed ground floor use. In my view this should allow an appropriate condition to be attached to control office use within the building."
3.0 PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 The two applications outlined in paragraph 1.2 above carry the reference numbers 95/00147/B and 03/00917/C respectively. The building was also approved for extension under PA 00/00384/B, which was amended under PA 01/01752/B.
3.2 Aside from these, the only application considered to be also worth bearing in mind in the assessment that follows is that under which Approval in Principle was originally granted for the laying out of the Business Park (PA 89/04166/B). Although this did not include a service centre such as now exists, the 1995 approval was in full detail and reflected a need identified at the time to provide some form of daytime services / facilities to those working on the Business Park.
3.3 It is believed that the application referred to in the applicant's letter is PA 09/01834/C, which carried the description "Variation of approved office use". Condition 3 attached to the approval notice reads as follows:
"The approved use is restricted to a single company that offers financial or professional services or otherwise falls within Use Class 4 (Offices) of the Use Classes Order within the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2005." These Use Classes are identical to those set out in the 2012 Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order, and which were quoted in full in paragraph 2.4 above.
4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
4.1 The site lies within the larger area zoned on the Braddan Local Plan as "Master Plan to be prepared which will include areas of Industrial Use, Science Based Industries, High Density Residential Use, Landscaping and Secondary School of approximately 16 acres".
4.2 The scale and nature of the proposal is such that it is considered appropriate to assess the application against General Policy 2 and Business Policies 5 and 7 of the Strategic Plan. It is worth noting the latter policies in full:
"On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except where either:
(a) the items to be sold could not reasonably be sold from a town centre location because of their size or nature; or (b) the items to be sold are produced on the site and their sale could not reasonably be severed from the overall business; and, in respect of (a) or (b), where it can be demonstrated that the sales would not detract from the vitality and viability of the appropriate town centre shopping area."
The use proposed is not retail, but it is nevertheless a use that would attract visiting members of the public and therefore has the potential to attract people away from Douglas town centre as presumed against by BP5.
4.3 Business Policy 7 states in part:
"New office floor space should be located within town and village centres on land which is zoned for the purpose on the appropriate area plan; exceptionally, permission may be given for new office space
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(a) on approved Business Parks for Corporate Headquarters which do not involve day to day callers."
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1.1 Highway Services of the DoI initially requested that a decision on the application be deferred on 14th August 2017, noting that the lack of clarity with regards "the expected number of covers or tables within the coffee shop; the floor area of office space removed; the expected use of the meeting room and family/kids room".
5.1.2 In response to the above, the agent commented as follows:
"It is envisaged that the coffee shop will accommodate somewhere in the region of 70 seats. As explained in the covering letter which accompanies the application, it is expected that a high proportion of customers will be based on IoMBP and will visit on foot. The proposed meeting room and family/kids room will be ancillary facilities for coffee shop customers (who require privacy for a meeting or a more child friendly area, no large scale play equipment will be used)."
5.1.3 Highway Services of the DoI formally offered no objection to the application on 19th September 2017, with the relevant extract being:
"The parking requirement for the proposed use is very similar to that of the extant use; the pattern of parking will be different with more peaks and flows throughout the day. The current arrangement is acceptable and the proposal is unlikely to generate additional parking and is therefore acceptable."
5.3 Braddan Commissioners offered no objection to the application in comments received 21st August 2017.
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 The Committee will appreciate, from previous applications brought to them in the area and further afield, that there is a significant shortage of employment land in the South of the Island. The Committee will note that this shortage has been exacerbated by the balanced decision made with respect to the approval issued to the 'Cycle 360' concept nearby on the Business Park (PA 16/00938/B), and some members will also recall the refused application that sought to create a mezzanine floor to provide a veterinary service within the Pets At Home store on the Spring Valley Industrial Estate (PA 15/01063/B).
6.2 However, this proposal differs from these in two key ways. Firstly, Park House is set clearly within the existing service centre, which already has a strong element of retail and related uses that provide welcome services for those working on the Business Park (but also, it cannot be ignored, for those living nearby). Secondly, the scale is much smaller than either of the above applications.
6.3 In respect of the location of Park House, the likelihood is that a number of workers on the Business Park do not have sufficient time in which to travel regularly to Douglas during their lunch hour. It therefore seems that the limited number of people that would be served by the proposed coffee shop could not be considered as being of such a scale as to result in an unduly harmful impact on Douglas' town centre vitality or viability.
6.4 A further likelihood is that those people who do not work in the Business Park will not view this location as one to choose to travel to instead of Douglas, which has a much larger variety of businesses and therefore offers wider choice / experiences than does the existing service centre - with or without the coffee shop. The desire to restrict out of town retail uses (which, again it should be stressed, the application does not propose) is not incompatible with
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the intention to provide nearby workers with an alternative hot food and drink option relative that which currently exists here.
6.5 It is also not considered that the nature and scale of this use would pre-judge (or act as a precedent) future decisions in relation to similar proposals. It is of course to be remembered that each application is to be judged on its own merits, but equally what is proposed here is a small (in relative terms) amount of commercial floorspace within an existing building that fronts onto the only location in the Business Park where such 'service' uses lawfully exist. It will therefore not result in the spreading of such uses beyond this existing, edge-of-Park, location such that the character of the Business Park would be affected.
6.6 The application also includes the intention to retain the same office uses but with a condition that is subtly different to that attached to the annex to Park House as part of the 2009 application. The condition now sought by the applicant would actually be more restrictive than that attached in 2009. That condition essentially allows for any use defined under Class 4, plus any use defined under Class 2(a): that now sought would remove the latter element. There is no objection to this, with such a condition necessary in order to ensure the development complies with Business Policy 7. It is unfortunate that this was not made clearer in the description of the application, because in some ways it could be judged as being a
6.7 In terms of the initial concern raised by Highway Services, this is understandable inasmuch as the application contains very limited information with regards the parking demand likely to arise from the proposal: moreover, there is no measure in the Strategic Plan stating what kind of parking provision is required for coffee shops or restaurant uses. The 70 covers proposed is a large number.
6.8 However, the argument of the agent is certainly compelling, inasmuch as the users of the coffee shop are likely to be either (a) peripatetic, and / or (b) have arrived on foot. For those travelling by car, which is considered likely to be a limited proportion of overall users, they will not be staying all day and therefore car parking spaces will become available more regularly than in other areas of the IoMBP, where office workers' cars will likely spend the working day stationary. The judgement of the previous sentence is made on the basis of the location and nature of the surrounding uses: local residents will likely walk; local office workers (whether attending for a meal or informal business meetings) will also likely walk. There will be the occasional visitor from outside of the immediate vicinity, but on the basis of the above this seems unlikely to be so significant as to result in a serious or harmful impact on either parking space availability or traffic flows. The view of Highway Services to offer no objection to the application is therefore understood and accepted, although it is judged that a condition should be attached that limits the number of covers to 70.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 It is concluded that the application is acceptable. This is a balanced judgement, and relies strongly on the location, scale and nature of the business proposed.
8.0 INTERESTED PERSON STATUS 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:
(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.
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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:...02.10.2017
Signed :...S BUTLER... 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
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.
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PLANNING COMMITTEE DECISION 02.10.2017
Application No. :
17/00753/B Applicant : Dandara Commercial Limited Proposal : Conversion of ground floor of office building to create coffee shop, with retention of office use above Site Address : Park House Isle Of Man Business Park Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 2SA
Presenting Officer : Mr S BUTLER
Addendum to the Officer’s Report
The Members noted the comments of the Architectural Liaison Officer (were not reflected in the Officer Report), but felt that restricting the hours of business suggested would not be appropriate in this case. Mr. Butler advised that in light of the comments from the ALO and the subsequent discussion, he would not propose to alter the recommendation in relation to conditions but would propose that the recommendation in relation to Interested Person Status be amended to award IPS to the Police ALO as a Government Department that has made relevant material comments.
Plans/Drawings/Information
The development hereby approved relates to Drawings APL-01 and APL-02, both date-stamped as having been received 14th July 2017.
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