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17/00851/C Page 1 of 5
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 17/00851/C Applicant : Mrs Linzi Michelle Brown Proposal : Change of use from hall to dance studio Site Address : The Switzerland Gospel Hall Switzerland Road Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 4NG
Case Officer : Mr Edmond Riley Photo Taken : 07.09.2017 Site Visit : 07.09.2017 Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 11.09.2017 __
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. For the avoidance of doubt, the use hereby approved shall be limited to that of a dance studio.
Reason: Any materially different uses may have different impacts that will require fresh assessment as to the impact such a use may have on neighbouring living conditions.
C 3. Unless otherwise agreed in advance in writing with the Department, no customers shall remain in the building outside the following days and hours:
o Tuesdays - 3:30pm to 8:00pm; o Wednesdays - 3:30pm to 8:30pm; o Thursdays - 3:30pm to 8:30pm, and o Saturdays - 8:30am to 10:30am.
Reason: In the interest of protecting local residents' amenity in terms of any noise or other disturbance that may arise from additional classes being held on other days or at different times.
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Plans/Drawings/Information;
The development hereby approved relates to the Location Plan, Floor Layout, and the supporting letter, all date-stamped as having been received 9th August 2017.
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None. __
Officer’s Report
THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE BECAUSE THE PROPOSED USE IS CONTRARY TO THE LAND USE ZONING FOR THE SITE BUT THE APPLICATION IS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL.
1.0 THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The application site is a former place of worship known as the Gospel Hall on Switzerland Road in Douglas. Included within the site are both the building and also the land around it, which is set out as hardstanding. The site is on the inside of a hairpin bend at the end of Switzerland Road, the access to which is also on that hairpin. The highway very quickly degenerates into a track after the application site, which goes on to provide pedestrian access to the office uses off Victoria Road above.
1.2 The other active uses in the area are residential, but there is also the old chair lift runs alongside the site while on the Promenade is a row of shop units. Highgrove Mansions is adjacent the site while the other residential dwellings in the area are fairly well-removed from the site.
2.0 PLANNING HISTORY 2.1 Some members of the Planning Committee may recall assessing and approving an application in 2015 for the change of use of the building to a 'male grooming salon' under PA 15/00365/C. The application was approved subject to a condition limiting the use to that use specifically. No physical changes were proposed to the building. The business that submitted that application subsequently found premises within Douglas town centre and so the approval, while extant, remains unimplemented.
2.2 The Hall was purpose-built following the grant of planning approval in 1986 under PA 86/01298/B.
3.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION 3.1 A change of use is now sought to enable the building to be used as a dance studio. The applicant has been in pre-application discussions with officers with regards finding a premises for this use, and has been guided away from industrial estates owing to the potential highway safety issues arising from the relationship between potentially large numbers of children and commercial vehicle movements.
3.2 The applicant notes that there are 25 parking spaces within the site, which means there will be no congestion in terms of footfall or vehicles. The estate agent acting on behalf of the applicant has stated that the present church has dwindling numbers and its being retained for this use is unlikely to be feasible. Roughly 30 students are expected to attend over the course of an evening, which would run to roughly three and a half hours. Most students would be dropped off and collected. Classes are proposed to be run on the following days / times:
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o Tuesdays (4pm to 7:30pm) o Wednesdays (4pm to 8pm) o Thursdays (4pm to 8pm), and o Saturdays (9am to 10am).
Exams for progression are also held, but this would be on a bi-annual basis. There are currently three members of staff that work on different evenings. There is the possibility of placing a traffic mirror to assist visibility for drivers, while the applicant also intends to paint white lines for car parking spaces. The applicant notes that from her own tests, the music she would use cannot be heard outside of the building but that further sound-proofing would be carried out if necessary.
3.3 The applicant wishes to emphasise that the dance school is small, and offers fun classes aimed at improving fitness and learning for small children. It is a club that is involved in community events and charity fundraisers and having a place for people to come that engages in this way is great for the community.
4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN 4.1 The site is within an area zoned as Predominantly Residential on the Douglas Local Plan.
4.2 The site is within land that is zoned for development; while it is a matter of fact that the zoning is at odds with the proposed use, it is also true that the general principles against which to test the acceptability of development proposals are set out in General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan.
4.3 Whereas the previous barber-style use was assessed against Business Policies 9 and 10, as both of these refer to retail uses specifically such an assessment on this occasion would not be appropriate. Community Policy 3 provides some useful guidance given the current use of the building, and perhaps would have been helpfully given consideration in the assessment of the previous application here:
"Development (including the change of use of existing premises) which results in the loss of a local community facility (other than shops and public houses) will only be permitted if it can be demonstrated that it is no longer practical or desirable to use the facility for its existing use or another use likely to benefit the local community."
4.4 Environment Policy 22 also applies.
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Highway Services stated on 18.08.2017 that the application had no highways implications. (In respect of the 2015 scheme, they offered no objection, commenting that there is "Adequate off road parking for staff and customers".)
5.2 Douglas Borough Council offered no objection to the proposal on 30.08.2017.
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 As no external works are proposed, the issue at hand is the extent to which the proposed use is acceptable for the location. The predominant use surrounding the site is residential, and therefore there does need to be an assessment made as to the effect of this use on local people in terms of the use itself (dance lessons can be noisy) as well as highway safety / parking provision.
6.2 The applicant has explained how there would likely be no noise issues arising from the use. It is welcomed that consideration has been given to this, and of course there are also tests of statutory noise nuisance set out in Environmental Health legislation. In this case,
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though, the fact is that the classes will be limited to three weekday evenings, none of which will run at all late into those evenings, and therefore low-level noise would likely blend into the background noise already existing in this part of Douglas, which is near the Promenade.
6.3 In terms of the comings and goings of attendees, this will be in fits and starts (i.e. it will not average out over the evening because lessons start and end at particular times), but it would seem likely to average at roughly 10 students per lesson. The number of cars associated with this number of children will unlikely be higher than one car per child and this level of traffic movement on a highway, albeit a not very busy one, will unlikely be significantly harmful to neighbouring living conditions.
6.4 While the site plan does not show 25 parking spaces, there is a significant amount of hardstanding associated with the building and this would be sufficient to accommodate the parking and manoeuvring of the numbers of cars that would likely be coming to the site at any one time. It is also to be remembered that the site is near the end of a cul-de-sac where any low-level congestion that may occur will be limited in its effect on the highway network.
6.5 This is also a facility that is likely to have clear benefits to children and the wider community. It is a safe and relatively quiet area in which to locate such a business and one that is far better than the other alternatives that the applicant has found available previously. It is not considered that many better such sites as this would exist and, in view of the continued availability of the property, it is also not judged appropriate to protect this use from loss as per the requirements of Community Policy 3.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 It is recommended that the planning application be approved subject to conditions.
7.2 Officers have assessed the impact of the proposal on the basis of the specific use proposed. Any materially different uses may have different impacts that will require fresh assessment. A condition limiting the use to that defined within the application is recommended accordingly.
7.3 A condition restricting the hours during which dance lessons may take place is also recommended. Longer hours / different days may be acceptable, but equally people living nearby may have chosen not to comment on / object to the application on the basis of the class hours stated in it. Any change to these would therefore also require fresh consideration. The wording of a condition to this effect has been agreed in advance of the Planning Committee's decision with the applicant.
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.
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.
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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: 18.09.2017
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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