DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 19/00413/B Applicant: Miss Joanne Cooil Proposal: Replace existing garage door with a window, widening vehicular access and creation of an additional parking space Site Address: 3 Gellings Avenue Port St. Mary Isle of Man IM9 5BG Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken: 09.05.2019 Site Visit: 09.05.2019 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 13.05.2019 _________________________________________________________________

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.Notwithstanding the submitted drawing, the new area of hard standing must be finished in a contrasting material to the existing driveway. This may be paviors or gravel with a mesh cover as has been installed at 2, Gellings Avenue or as otherwise approved by the Department.

Reason: To ensure that there is an appropriate visual impact on the streetscene in accordance with General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan.

Plans/Drawings/Information: This approval relates to drawing 241-01 received on 5th April, 2019. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

none _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report THE SITE

1.1 The site is the residential curtilage of an existing dwelling, an end of terraced property which sits on the north eastern end of a terrace of three dwellings, on the northern side of Gellings Avenue. The property is a two storey dwelling with a second floor of accommodation partly within the roofspace serviced by a dormer window. - 1.2 The property has an integral garage and a single width driveway directly in front. The properties are stepped and to the north east of the driveway is a rendered masonry wall. Beside the driveway is a kerbed pedestrian path with a grassed strip on the other side of the path. All three dwellings in the terrace have the same layout. The site has been measured and there is 5m length between the front of the house and garage and the highway and the overall width of the site is a little wider - 5.06m. The vehicle parked on the drive at the time of the site visit was a Hyundai i10 which has dimensions of 3.66m by 1.94m and which sat comfortably on the driveway. The other two driveways in the terrace were unoccupied at the time of the visit but there were two vehicles parked on one of the new house driveways further up the Avenue. These vehicles were a BMW Z4 (dimensions 4.3m by 2.02m) and a Renault van (4.3m by

• 2.1m) and all sat comfortably on their driveways.

1.3 There are two further dwellings to the south west which were built more recently. These too have three floors of accommodation and no integral garage with the front garden level and completely hard surfaced, accommodating two vehicles side by side. These properties are set back further from Gellings Avenue than are the terrace of three and have more than 5m length. - 1.4 The other frontages in the terrace of three have a tarmacadam single vehicle width driveway to the right in front of the garages and numbers 1 and 3 havea grassed areas bounded by the paved path up to the front door, and the boundary to the left. The house in the middle has no grass but has gravel with a protective mesh. All three properties have a lowered kerb across the full frontage.

THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Proposed is the conversion of the garage to living accommodation and the levelling of the pedestrian path and grassed area to form an additional parking space. - 2.2 The dimensions, particularly the length of the driveway seem to differ throughout the drawings which have been submitted. On the aerial photograph, the parked vehicle appears to sit at an angle which suggests that the parking space is not long enough to accommodate a vehicle so two full spaces will not be available if the proposal is implemented. The actual measured dimensions are referred to in section 1 above. - 2.3 The levelled parking space will be finished in an unspecified material but the drawings make it appear that the whole of the frontage will be finished in the same material. Following discussions with the applicant, the proposal has been clarified and is now for the treatment of the expanded area in gravel with a mesh surface, like that alongside at number 2 (see e-mail of 13.05.19). - 2.4 The applicant has clarified that the garage has internal dimensions of 2.4m by 5.1m and as such it is difficult to open the doors and get in and out whilst the vehicle is within the garage.

PLANNING POLICY

3.1 The site lies within an area designated as Residential on the Area Plan for the South

(2013). As such, the appropriate Strategic Plan policy to be applied is General Policy 2 as follows:

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:

• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape;

• (f) incorporates where possible existing topography and landscape features, particularly trees and sod banks;
• (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 and
• (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways."

3.2 The Department has recently introduced guidance for residential development in the form of Residential Design Guidance, March 2019 which aims to create a supportive context for good quality designs. This includes provision for alterations to existing car parking provision as follows:

"2.4.2 Consideration should be given to imaginative ways to provide adequate levels of car parking without it dominating the streetscape. The use of the most appropriate type of parking (within the curtilage, shared parking areas and/or on-street) and both hard and soft landscaping can help to ensure that the visual impact of car parking is minimised."

"6.3.2 Increased car ownership and the resultant increase in demand for parking spaces has led to congested roads and has prompted many households to consider transforming their front gardens into a hardstanding to provide off-street car parking. Using good design and a little imagination it is possible to combine parking provision with an attractive and welcoming front garden.

• 6.3.3 It should be acknowledged that car parking in front gardens does not necessarily increase the overall amount of car-parking capacity within an area. The creation of an offstreet space normally requires the provision of a new access, which can result in the loss of at least one on-street parking space. Proposals which do not result in a net benefit are unlikely to be supported.
• 6.3.4 Proposals which result in the loss of more than 50% of the existing front lawned/landscaped garden will not normally be supported, to ensure the character of the street scape is retained and avoid frontages of properties appearing as one large car parking area, detrimental to the appearance of the street scene and to the outlook of residents. It is important that the design of a driveway maintains a balance between hard and soft landscaping and contributes positively to the street scene. Proposals are unlikely to be supported where they do not meet the following guidelines:

• o the area intended for the driveway should be the minimum space necessary (see the Manual for Manx Roads);
• o where possible, the impact of the driveway is lessened by retaining mature trees and shrubs and/or creating areas of new planting (for example, a planted strip or hedge between the vehicular and pedestrian access can help to break-up the appearance of the hardstanding whilst planting around the fringes of the driveway can also be used to good effect and may be used to help screen the vehicle);
• o if an opening is made in an existing wall, fence or other boundary feature, the ends should be made good with matching or sympathetic materials (i.e. pillars);
• o where possible, separate pedestrian access should be retained/provided (existing gates should normally be retained and any new gates should not open out over the highway);

• o any new gates, walls, fences or other boundary features should reflect the traditional style of the local area;
• o consideration should be given to a strip of grass or gravel placed in the centre of the hardstanding can hide leaked oil and maintain the look of a front garden; and
• o parking spaces should be avoided directly in front of any Primary Window as the resulting
• outlook can be undermined by the presence of parked cars.

• 6.3.5 The cumulative impact of the creation of a large number of impermeable surfaces within an area can lead to a material increase in run-off during rainfall events, potentially causing localised flooding. Therefore, proposals are unlikely to be supported unless they adopt one or more of the following approaches:

• o utilising an existing green or gravel area;
• o guiding water away from any impermeable area towards a vegetated area, or soakaway; and/or
• o constructing a driveway from block paving or other permeable surface (i.e. loose gravel and resin bound gravel (prevents gravel spilling onto highway) or matrix pavers or cellular paving
• or brick pavers or permeable bitmac)."

PLANNING HISTORY

4.1 There are no planning applications listed as having been received in respect of this site since 1984. REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Highway Services raise no objection, noting that the existing garage is sub standard in modern terms and there is a dropped kerb along the entire frontage already. They are not aware of the height of the existing walling separating the properties and advise that this should be no higher than 1.05m to assist visibility of and from emerging vehicles (09.05.19).

5.2 Port St. Mary Commissioners have no objection (25.04.19). ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The issues in this case are whether there is sufficient space for two vehicles to park safely and conveniently within the property and secondly, whether there would be any environmental harm from the proposal. In assessing the second issue, it is relevant to consider the appearance and arrangement of other properties in the street, particularly the two new houses further uphill towards Cronk Road.

6.2 Whilst the length of the parking spaces is not sufficient to accommodate the longest car, they are long enough to accommodate most medium sized vehicles and are very similar to the length of the existing garage which the additional space is intended to replace. However, there is much more width available, making the spaces more accessible and more likely to be used. Parking spaces in the area are limited: those properties opposite have on-site parking although the adjacent highways of Cronk Road and Victoria Road accommodate many properties which have no on-site parking.

6.3 The walling separating the properties is in places higher than 1.05, as viewed from the lower side. However, the walling is stepped and there will be some opportunity to see approaching pedestrians and vehicles from the vehicle which is manoeuvring out, hopefully in a forward gear (all the parked vehicles seen on the site visit were reversed into the spaces on this side of the road. Lowering the walls any further would adversely affect the efficacy of the walling from the upper side. - 6.4 The streetscene is already dominated by parking spaces, particularly with the two new properties further uphill. The inclusion of a different surface, whether this is paviours, gravel or another material, will help reduce the impact of additional hard surfacing and mitigate the loss

of the grass which has a limited positive impact on the streetscene due to its limited size and generally shaded aspect, limiting what could grow there.

CONCLUSION

7.1 The proposal is considered to accord with General Policy 2 and the intentions of the Residential Design Guidance and 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;
• (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 can confirm that this decision has been made by a Principal Planner in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date: 23.05.2019 Determining officer

Signed : C BALMER Chris Balmer Principal Planner

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