176047

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                                      19/00777/C                                     Page  1  of  6

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No. : 19/00777/C Applicant : Mr Andrew Berry Proposal : Change of use of existing sun lounge into an office Site Address : Ballacregga Farm Peel Road Kirk Michael Isle Of Man IM6 1AP

Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken :

Site Visit :

Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 19.08.2019 __

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. The use of the sun lounge as an office is restricted to the householder(s) and up to two further members of staff employed in the householder's business and who do not live at the premises. The office may not generally be open to visiting members of the public or customers.

Reason: The site is not within an identified settlement and is not a location where office use would be generally encouraged, in the interests of sustainability.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to plans reference 19 1341/1, 19 1341/2 and 3, all received on 11th July, 2019. __

Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

Officer’s Report

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                                      19/00777/C                                     Page  2  of  6

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

THE SITE 1.1 The site is the residential curtilage of Ballacregga, a detached house which sits in a larger area of fields, to the south of Kirk Michael. The house is a large one and which has an attached sun room which sits on the north eastern side of the dwelling. The sun room has a floor area of around 25 sq m.

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the use of the sun room as an office for use by the householder who is a chartered accountant and up to two colleagues. The business is presently based in 15/17 Duke Street in Douglas and the applicants and one of the colleagues live closer to the site than to Douglas, reducing travel time if the office were based at the application site. He does not foresee anything other than occasional visits by customers and the premises has ample car parking and separate toilet facilities for the business.

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 a particular purpose and within areas of Woodland and High Landscape Value and Scenic Significance. As such, there is a presumption against development as set out in Environment Policies 1 and 2 where protection of the character of the countryside is the most important consideration, and General Policy 3. The proposal does not comply with any of the exceptions set out in General Policy 3.

3.2 The site does not lie within an identified settlement, Kirk Michael being around 0.5km away. Kirk Michael is identified in the Strategic Plan Spatial Strategy as a Service Village where housing should be provided to meet local needs and where appropriate, there should be opportunities to increase employment. Spatial Policy 5 requires that new development is to be located within the defined settlements and development will only be permitted in the countryside in accordance with General Policy 3.

3.3 The Strategic Plan also recommends that whilst the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island is encouraged, this should be through development which accords with the policies of the Strategic Plan (Business Policy 1) and later policies state that new office space should be located within town and village centres on land zoned for such purposes (BP7). Whilst exceptions are made on the basis of buildings of acknowledged historic or architectural interest which is not the case here. Paragraph 9.3.3 states that the support for offices within town and village centres relates to the accessibility of such locations, their presence adds to the vitality an success of the centres and the investment in property can be used to renew the ageing fabric of the town centre buildings.

3.4 It is generally not supported to have office use within the countryside as this would undermine adjacent town and village centres and would add to travel distances: 17/01205/B was an application for the erection of a building which would accommodate residential and office floorspace (that site currently accommodated 4 staff and the additional floor area would have expanded that to at least 8). This was refused for reasons relating to the land use designation of the site (not designated for development), the unsustainable nature of the development through the increased travel movements and also the impact on the footpath and the building itself.

PLANNING HISTORY 4.1The property has been the subject of a number of applications for alterations and extensions, none of which is relevant to the consideration of the current application.

REPRESENTATIONS

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                                      19/00777/C                                     Page  3  of  6

5.1 There are no representations on the file at the time of writing.

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The development is contrary to Spatial Policy 6 and Business Policy 7 which encourages office use to be located in existing settlements. The Strategic Plan is also committed to sustainable development and this, along with the Government's Climate Change Mitigation Strategy 2016-2020 which includes the following:

"2.1 In line with international convention, it is in our own interest to aim for the most cost effective means to reduce emissions. This necessitates firstly seeking to eliminate emissions from energy consumption by eliminating demand for energy itself where possible.

Eliminate energy demand i.e. design and construct buildings which don't require heating or cooling, use online services rather than travelling somewhere in person, walk or cycle instead of travelling by bus or car.

Eliminating emissions - eliminating the need to travel

2.7.1 Emissions from vehicles and vessels can be eliminated where the need to travel can be avoided. The Island has a good telecommunications infrastructure which can enable people to work and shop from home thereby eliminating the need to travel."

6.2 It is clear that the applicant working from home would significantly reduce travelling and emissions. This would not require planning approval. If his colleague or colleagues live closer to the site than to the office in Douglas, this too, would reduce travelling and emissions if the colleague(s) worked at the site. Ideally the office should be located within the nearest settlement - in this case, Kirk Michael. However, this village is predominantly comprised of housing with a small core of commercial premises in the centre alongside the Main Road. It is also relevant that this particular business does not attract a significant number of calling customers, reducing the need for it to be in a sustainable location.

6.3 A search of current premises for office use reveals only one - the Courthouse, a Registered Building which offers 102 sq m of floor space. This is clearly greatly in excess of what is required by the applicant in this case. If office use is to be directed to the nearest settlement which would reduce travelling and emissions then it is not likely that this could be to Kirk Michael.

6.4 It would not be possible to control the use of the sun room to only people whose home was closer to this site than to Douglas. However the applicant advises that presently one of the staff members lives relatively close, resulting in a nett reduction in travel and emissions from the proposal.

6.5 The proposal referred to in 3.4 was for a considerably larger operation where the office was to be a completely new building so whilst the principle is similar, the actual impact would have been considerable greater so this is not considered to be persuasive in this case.

6.6 It is appropriate to attach a condition to any approval which restricts the use of the office to the householder(s) and up to two further members of staff who do not live at the premises. It is also recommended that the office may not be open to visiting members of the public or customers and if there is the occasional customer, as is indicated in the application, this is not likely to be considered to materially change what has approval. It would not be acceptable to attach a condition which restricts customer visits to occasional as this is imprecise, contrary to good practice (Paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework, UK).

CONCLUSION 7.1 The proposal is supported subject to the conditions outlined in paragraph 6.6.

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                                      19/00777/C                                     Page  4  of  6

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 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: 27.08.2019

Signed : C BALMER 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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                                      19/00777/C                                     Page  5  of  6

PLANNING COMMITTEE DECISION 27.08.2019

Application No. :

19/00777/C Applicant : Mr Andrew Berry Proposal : Change of use of existing sun lounge into an office Site Address : Ballacregga Farm Peel Road Kirk Michael Isle Of Man IM6 1AP

Principal Planner : Miss S E Corlett Presenting Officer Mr C Balmer

Addendum to the Officer’s Report

The Planning Committee considered the application and agreed with the recommendation to approve the application subject to an amendment to Condition 2 and an additional condition being attached:

"2. The use of the sun lounge as an office is restricted to the householder(s) and up to two further members of staff employed in the householder's business. The office may not be open to visiting members of the public or customers.

Reason: The site is not within an identified settlement and is not a location where office use would be generally encouraged, in the interests of sustainability in this particular location and case.

3. The use hereby permitted shall be carried on only by Mr Andrew Berry as a Chartered Surveyors office and by no other person and upon the cessation of occupation by Mr Andrew Berry the use as a Chartered Surveyors office hereby permitted shall cease.

Reason: This permission is granted exceptionally and the Department wishes to have the opportunity of exercising control over any subsequent use in the event of the applicant ceasing the use hereby permitted."

Conditions of Approval

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.

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                                      19/00777/C                                     Page  6  of  6

C 2. The use of the sun lounge as an office is restricted to the householder(s) and up to two further members of staff employed in the householder's business. The office may not be open to visiting members of the public or customers.

Reason: The site is not within an identified settlement and is not a location where office use would be generally encouraged, in the interests of sustainability in this particular location and case.

C 3. The use hereby permitted shall be carried on only by Mr Andrew Berry as a Chartered Surveyors office and by no other person and upon the cessation of occupation by Mr Andrew Berry the use as a Chartered Surveyors office hereby permitted shall cease.

Reason: This permission is granted exceptionally and the Department wishes to have the opportunity of exercising control over any subsequent use in the event of the applicant ceasing the use hereby permitted.

Plans/Drawings/Information

This decision relates to plans reference 19 1341/1, 19 1341/2 and 3, all received on 11th July, 2019.