DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 19/00708/B Applicant: Mr John Kinvig Proposal: Alterations and erection of rear extension Site Address: 8 Woodbourne Villas Alexander Drive Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 3QG Planning Officer: Mr Nick Salt Photo Taken: 01.08.2019 Site Visit: 01.08.2019 Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 12.08.2019 _________________________________________________________________

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.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped as received on 24th June 2019:

• o Location Plan
• o Site Plan
• o Existing ground floor plan
• o Proposed ground floor plan
• o Existing rear elevation
• o Proposed rear elevation

_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons None _____________________________________________________________________________ 19/00708/B Page 1 of 5

Officer’s Report

1.0 SITE - 1.1 The application site is 8 Woodbourne Villas, Alexander Drive, Douglas - a two and half storey traditional mid-terraced dwelling located on the northern side of Alexander Road and east of Selborne Drive. - 1.2 The dwelling has an outrigger to the rear, with a garden room, and an area to the western side of the rear which previously contained a conservatory. There is an approximately

• 1.75m wall bounding the site with No.9 to the west.
• 2.0 THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Proposed is the erection of a 7.42m2 extension to the rear of the dwelling, between the existing outrigger and the wall with No.9, sitting over the and above the footprint of the previous conservatory. - 2.2 The extension would be flat roofed with a roof lantern over most of the roof - which would sit roughly the same height as the top of the existing garden room pitched roof, and feature a large double door to the rear elevation. A narrow gap would be left between the west elevation of the extension and the boundary wall. No window openings are proposed with the exception of the rear elevation.

- 3.0 PLANNING POLICY

3.1 The proposal site is situated in an area covered by the Douglas Local Plan 1998. Within this plan it is zoned as Predominantly Residential. The site is within Selborne Drive Conservation Area. - 3.2 The Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 sets out some general policies which should be considered when assessing an application in an area zoned as such. General Policy 2 (in part) is key to this application; "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; (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality."

3.3 Environment Policy 35 states:"Within Conservation Areas, the Department will permit only development which would preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Area, and will ensure that the special features contributing to the character and quality are protected against inappropriate development." - 3.4 Whilst not planning policy, the Departments recently published Residential Design Guidance (March 2019) will be referenced in this report and is capable of being a material consideration.

- 4.0 PLANNING HISTORY

4.1 00/00427/B - Creation of vehicular access to rear lane at 8 Woodbourne Villas Permitted.

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4.2 00/01965/B - Erection of conservatory at 8 Woodbourne Villas - Permitted. - 4.3 14/01139/B - Erection of glazed roof extension to replace existing conservatories to rear elevation at 9 Woodbourne Villas - Permitted. - 4.4 19/00595/B - Alterations, demolition of existing and erection of rear extension and creation of rear parking space with associated vehicular access (in association with 19/00596/CON) at 36 Alexander Drive - Permitted.

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 Douglas Borough Council have no objections to the application (19.07.19). - 5.2 DoI Highway Services have stated that they have no Highways interest in the application (22.07.19)

6.0 ASSESSMENT - 6.1 The key considerations in the assessment of this application are the potential impacts of the proposal on the character and appearance of the site dwelling, wider street scene and Conservation Area, and the amenity of the neighbours. - 6.2 Character and Appearance

• 6.2.1 This consideration relates to General Policy 2 and Environment Policy 35 as per section 4 of this report. The key test is contained within Environment Policy 35 which requires that all development within Conservation Areas must 'preserve or enhance' that area.
• 6.2.2 The proposed extension is modern, and not in keeping with the overall styling of the dwelling. However, its single storey nature means that it would not be highly visible from any public thoroughfare, or from the access lane to the rear, nor would it be considered an 'untidy' or overly large feature. Modest extensions such as these are not unusual in the houses along Woodbourne Villas - as alluded to by the planning history. It is considered that, due to the semi-secluded nature of the extension proposed, and the existing garden room in place as well as the previous conservatory, this aspect of the proposal would accord with EP35 and GP2.
• 6.3 Neighbour Amenity

• 6.3.1 It is also important to assess any potential loss of amenity from the perspective of neighbours, in this case 9 Woodbourne Villas is the property regarded as most likely to be affected. Referring to the recently published DEFA Residential Design Guidance (March 2019), the main consideration around this would be overshadowing and/or overbearing resulting from the extension.
• 6.3.2 Overshadowing and loss of light to habitable rooms of neighbouring properties is calculated as set out in the Design Guidance Section 7.3: "A simple check can be undertaken in relation to this issue.

• o A side view is drawn which includes the proposal site and the main face of the neighbouring property.
• o A point is identified which is 2 metres above ground level on the closest wall with a relevant window of the neighbouring building.
• o A line is drawn from this point at a 25 degree angle towards the application site. If no part of the proposal is above this line, there will still be the potential for good daylight to the interior."

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• 6.3.3 Firstly, the east-west movement of the sun means that highest risk of increased overshadowing would be in the morning. However, when the above approximations are applied, and the height of the main dwelling of No.8 is accounted for, any increased risk from the proposed extension on the levels of light reaching the windows of No.9 would be considered negligible.
• 6.3.4 Similarly, the extension would not be considered an overbearing or oppressive feature from the perspective of No.9 due to the nature of the properties and its relatively modest scale. In respect of the amenity of local residents, the proposal accords with GP2 (g).

7.0 CONCLUSION - 7.1 In summary, the proposal is considered to be in accordance with GP2 and EP35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan policies outlined above, and with the DEFA Residential Design Guidance. It is therefore recommended for approval.

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.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 12.08.2019 Determining officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

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