Decision Notice and Officers Report

Cabinet Office

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CABINET OFFICE Government Office DOUGLAS Isle of Man IM1 3PN Direct Line (01624) 685280 Fax Number (01624) 685710 Email [email protected] CHIEF SECRETARY Will Greenhow ACMA

26th May 2017

Planning Secretary DEFA Planning & Building Control Division 1st Floor Murray House Mount Havelock Douglas

Our Reference: DF17/0003 Dear Miss Corlett,

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1999 The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure)(No 2) Order 2013

• Ref 17/00149/B
• Applicant Mr Carl Underwood
• Proposal Installation of three containers to provide kitchen and classroom / office (retrospective) and toilets
• Address The Coffee Cottage (Laser-Mayhem), Watertrough Cottage, Shoulder Road, Foxdale

I refer to the abovementioned application, and in accordance with the obligations set down in statute, I herewith give notice of the decision as follows.

On 18th May 2017 the Council of Ministers considered the recommendations of the Planning Inspector and determined to approve the application subject to the condition(s) specified below.

W. Alow.

Mr Will Greenhow ACMA Chief Secretary

Date of Issue: 26th May 2017

Conditions of Approval

1. All the containers hereby approved shall be finished in the same dark green colour, either as installed or within one month of their installation, and shall thereafter be maintained in the same colour for the duration of their use on the site.

Reason: In the interests of visual amenity.

1. Should the use of the site for recreation purposes cease, all the containers hereby approved shall be removed from the site within two months of the cessation of that use.

Reason: In the interests of visual amenity.

Please be advised that the decision of the Council of Ministers is binding and final. All parties should note that there is no prescribed right of appeal relevant to the Council's decision herein and accordingly the only right of challenge is by a petition of doleance brought to the High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man. Such doleance proceedings required to be issued promptly and in any event within 3 months.

Yours faithfully,

A Johnstone Planning Appeals Administrator On behalf of the Chief Secretary

Crown Division Government Offices Douglas Isle of Man 2 May 2017 To the Council of Ministers Case Reference DF17/0003 Planning Application 17/00149/B Application by Mr Carl Keith Underwood for planning approval for the installation of three containers to provide kitchen and classroom/office (retrospective) accommodation and toilets at The Coffee Cottage (Laser-Mayhem), Watertrough Park, Shoulder Road, Foxdale, Isle of Man, IM9 3EL.

1. On 24 April 2017, I carried out a site visit at the above location. The case is being made by written representations.
2. The application has to be considered by the Council of Ministers, not the Planning Authority, because the application site is owned by the Department of Environment Food and Agriculture (DEFA), of which the Planning Authority is part. Therefore Sections 10(1) and (7) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (No 2) Order 2013 set down that the application must be considered by an Independent Inspector and not by the Planning Committee or an officer of the Department.

Procedural Matters

1. The application proceeds on the basis of an amended plan (Ref CC/2/16) made available by the Planning Authority for comment by written notice dated 6 March 2017. This report and the decision by the Ministers can therefore safely be based on this amended plan.
2. The description of the proposed development set out above is taken from the advisory Planning Statement submitted on behalf of the Planning Authority, rather than the original application form, because this most aptly describes the proposed development.
3. However, the Planning Authority has questioned whether two storage containers previously stationed on the site are positioned as previously approved and has assumed that permission is also sought for this amendment. I accordingly take this aspect of the existing development into consideration

Description of the Site and the Proposal

1. The application site comprises part of the South Barrule Plantation lying to the north east of the A36 shoulder road close to its junction with the A3, south of Foxdale.
2. A larger part of the Plantation to the south west is in use for recreation, including under the title of Ape Man, served by a formal public car park. The application site itself is in recreational use as Laser Mayhem for simulated war games involving laser guns by permission granted on 3 August 2016 under Ref 16/00277/B. The use already includes two storage containers, tents and informal car parking, as well as a stone building, The Coffee Cottage. This building is the subject of approval for improvement and extension as part of the foregoing permission.
3. The improvement to the existing building is in progress but the current proposal is to station two further storage containers in place of the approved extension to the building. These would be linked to the permanent building by a covered walkway and would provide, respectively, kitchen and classroom facilities for patrons of Laser Mayhem. Another container would be placed a short distance away to provide a toilet served by a cess pit. There are currently no toilet facilities in the area.
4. The two containers closest to The Coffee Cottage are already in place but the degree to which the application is retrospective does not influence my consideration of the proposal as a whole.

Representations Received

1. The only representations received were from the Malew Parish Commissioners and Manx Utilities (MU). Neither raises any objections to the approval of the application, subject to permission being temporary and the cess pit serving the proposed toilet being privately maintained at all times. The maintenance of the cess pit is for Building Control and does not affect the consideration of the planning issues involved.

Advice from the Planning Authority

Background

1. The Planning Authority advises that the scale of recreational use within the South Barrule Plantation on both sides of the shoulder road does not wholly comply with its planning status as woodland but that the Department is promoting development orders to permit certain works in support of recreation in some of the Island's plantations.
2. The Planning Authority also advises that DEFA is in discussion regarding a permanent building for toilet provision for the whole Plantation, probably within the public car park south west of the shoulder road and outside the application site, but that no planning application has been made for any such proposal.

Policy, Landscape and Key Views

1. The site is not designated for any specific use in the adopted Area Plan for the South. It lies within the Southern Uplands, as defined in the draft Landscape Character Appraisal, where the stated strategy is to conserve and enhance the character, quality and distinctiveness of the remote and open moorland and panoramic views.
2. General Policy 3 of the adopted Strategic Plan 2016 (SP) presumes against development in such locations, outside areas zoned for development, except for certain essential rural uses. Under the heading of Sport, Recreation, Open Space and Community Facilities, SP paragraph 10.1.1 notes that the quality of Island life is improved by attractive open space and facilities for recreation.

Assessment

1. In light of these provisions, the Planning Authority considers the main issue to be: whether the proposed containers are environmentally acceptable in this location, taking into account that an extension to the building has been approved in the same position proposed for two of the containers and that there are other containers close by within the site.
2. The use of containers in this connection is not ideal, when compared with the approved and properly designed built extension to the building. Despite the presence of other containers permitted nearby, the impact of two additional containers so close to The Coffee Cottage could be considered unfortunate. However, their dark green colouring is helpfully in keeping with the general character of the approved uses of the site.
3. On balance, subject to a condition that all the containers be finished in the same dark green colour and another that permission be temporary, for the duration of the associated recreational use, the proposed containers would not be inappropriate in terms of relevant planning policy.
4. In as much as the two previously approved containers have been slightly repositioned, there is no objection to that aspect of the development either.

Assessment by the Inspector

Main Issue

1. In my view, the main issue is the visual impact of the proposed containers in the context of the surrounding established leisure use of the site.

Appraisal

1. Whilst the Planning Authority advises that DEFA is discussing the provision of permanent toilets for the whole Plantation, the present proposal falls to be considered on its own individual merits.
2. Visually, the three additional, dark-green-coloured containers would be broadly in keeping with the existing containers, tents and other apparatus associated with the established recreational use of the woodland site. I agree with the Planning Authority that the approved extension to The Coffee Cottage would be preferable to the containers now proposed in its place. However, I consider on balance that, properly judged on their own merit, the three additional and two previously approved containers in the positions now proposed would support facilities for recreation and avoid unacceptable harm to the Southern Uplands landscape in terms of adopted planning policy.
3. I noted during my site visit that the appearance of the site in general has improved since the previous application was considered in July 2016 and, in particular, that that The Coffee Cottage is being fitted out to a high standard of workmanship. In my view, although not decisive, this factor adds to the case for approval.
4. For the foregoing reasons, I conclude overall that it would be appropriate for planning permission to be granted for the three new and two previously approved containers in their present positions, subject to conditions requiring all the containers to be finished and maintained in the same dark green colour and removed from the site, should their use in association with the Laser-Mayhem development cease. The standard time limit for commencement is not necessary as the development has begun.

Recommendation

1. I accordingly recommend that planning approval be granted for the installation of three containers to provide kitchen and classroom/office (retrospective) accommodation and toilets and the repositioning of two existing containers at The Coffee Cottage (Laser-Mayhem), Watertrough Park, Shoulder Road, Foxdale, Isle of Man, IM9 3EL, in accordance with Plan Ref CC/2/16 as amended and received by the Planning Authority on 2 March 2017, and subject to the following conditions:

1) All the containers hereby approved shall be finished in the same dark green colour, either as installed or within one month of their installation, and shall thereafter be maintained in the same colour for the duration of their use on the site.

Reason: In the interests of visual amenity. 2) Should the use of the site for recreation purposes cease, all the containers hereby approved shall be removed from the site within two months of the cessation of that use.

Reason: In the interests of visual amenity.

B J Sims

Brian J Sims BSc CEng MICE MRTPI Independent Inspector