172243

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                                      18/01224/B                                     Page  1  of  4

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 18/01224/B Applicant : ManxSPCA Proposal : Creation of overflow car park for occasional use by staff and visitors Site Address : The Bungalow Ard Jerkyll East Foxdale Road Eairy Isle Of Man IM4 3HL

Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken : 12.12.2018 Site Visit : 12.12.2018 Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 30.07.2019 __

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. Prior to the use of the car park hereby approved, the visibility splays as shown in drawing 03B and 04B must be set out and the car park hard surfaced as shown in the approved drawings and all must be retained as such thereafter.

Reason: to ensure that the car park is fit for purpose and safe.

C 3. All planting, seeding or turfing comprised in the approved details of landscaping must be carried out in the first planting and seeding seasons following the completion of the development or the occupation of the dwellings, whichever is the sooner. Any trees or plants which within a period of five years from the completion of the development die, are removed, or become seriously damaged or diseased must be replaced in the next planting season with others of a similar size and species.

Reason: The landscaping of the site is an integral part of the scheme and must be implemented as approved.

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Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to drawings 01A received on 20th December, 2019 and 03B and 04B both received on 18th April, 2019.

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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

Officer’s Report

THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE DEVELOPMENT IS CONTRARY TO THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

THE SITE 1.1 The site is part of a field which sits to the immediate west of Ard Jerkyll, the facilities of the Manx Society for the Protection of Animals. The site is currently an open area with some hard standing and mostly grass. The site has an existing entrance onto the A24, in front of Ard Jerkyll, a property associated with the operation on the main site.

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the use of the land alongside Ard Jerkyll for overspill car parking associated with the animal sanctuary. The car park will be surfaced in hardcore and laid out to accommodate 52 spaces, each 2.4m by 5m.

2.2 A new entrance is proposed which purports to offer visibility of 74m by 2.4m to the east and 105m by 2.4m towards Foxdale with a tarmacadam strip 4m into the site from the edge of the carriageway and with an entrance 8m wide.

2.3 The applicant explains that they have an indoor dog exercise area where they hold events and rent out to local dog clubs and sometimes this can attract over 100 visitors and they have to use a nearby field which has no proper entrance and is boggy. This can result in people not turning in and sometimes people parking illegally on the highway.

2.4 The works will also involve levelling and the installation of a membrane, no details of which have been provided in the initial submission. The applicant explains in a further letter of 19th December, 2018 that the works will involve a site scrape, resulting in around 150-225mm of material which will be replaced by the same amount of Type 1 aggregate and any surplus material will either be removed to a licensed tip or used around the site to make up ground as required.

2.5 Access from the car park is via an existing track which leads to the dog training and rehabilitation building and the applicant explains that this building is used daily for the animals at the MSPCA but is also used for fun events, the annual dog of the year show and dog parties which are usually third party fund raisers for the charity and these events cannot be accommodated by the existing parking provision.

2.6 Following concerns raised by Highway Services and the Department regarding available visibility, further plans have been received, reference 2018/21/03B and 2018/21/04B. These show the removal of existing bank and trees (up to six) to provide the required visibility to the east. This will also assist those coming out of the existing entrance to Ard Jerkyll Cottage. Four mew silver birch trees are to be planted on the inside of the eastern side of the access into Ard

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                                      18/01224/B                                     Page  3  of  4

Jerkyll Cottage to compensate for the loss of the existing roadside trees. The taller conifers are largely to be retained.

PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982 as not for any particular purpose but not within any area of High Landscape Value and Scenic Significance. As such, there is a presumption against development here as set out in General Policy 3 and Environment Policy 1. The proposal does not accord with any of the exceptions given in GP3 and EP1 protects the countryside for its own sake and presumes against development here which would adversely affect the countryside unless there is an over-riding national need in land use planning terms which outweighs the requirement to protect these areas and for which there is no reasonable and acceptable alternative.

PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 The site has been the subject of a number of applications for development, expansion and the provision of facilities for animals who have been rescued from abandonment or harm. The application refers to a facility for dog exercising and this relates to 12/01096/B which was for "an indoor dog training and rehabilitation centre". No conditions were attached to that approval to require the facility to be used in association with the MSPCA operation on the site.

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Malew Parish Commissioners have no objection (06.12.18).

5.2 Highway Services initially objected to the application but indicate on 29.07.19 that they have no objection to the application on the basis of the amended plans, subject to conditions which require that the visibility splay is provided and retained and the car park is hard surfaced and laid out as shown in the application.

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The works proposed will result in a changed visual appearance of this part of the highway due to the required visibility splay opening up the site. There is no footway on this stretch of the A24. The existing access to Ard Jerkyll Bungalow does not currently offer any more visibility and it is doubtful that this access could afford any better visibility than that now proposed so is not a viable alternative. There is, however, existing and proposed vegetation behind that to be reduced in height so the impact of lowering the vegetation to no higher than 0.9m is not considered objectionable and there will still be vegetation which will screen much of the impact of the new car parking area.

6.2 The existing car parking facilities are not only limited in area but are also on a slope where the spaces offer little room for manoeuvring in and out. The provision of additional parking to serve the facility is therefore welcome in principle. It is also noted that the proposed spaces will serve a particular part of the operation although it is not considered objectionable for customers and staff to routinely use this proposed car park which will have better visibility and circulation space than the existing.

CONCLUSION 7.1 The site already has an impact on the otherwise rural character of the area and there is already hard surfacing within this site. What is proposed will formalise this further and increase its visibility through the widening of the access but not to an extent which is considered unacceptable. There is an acknowledged need for the additional parking spaces in an area where on-street parking is not possible or welcome. As such, the proposal is supported.

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;

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                                      18/01224/B                                     Page  4  of  4

(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:...12.08.2019

Signed :...S CORLETT... 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.