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PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 19/00815/B Applicant : Mrs Rosemary Glassey Proposal : Installation of cladding to entrance facade, removal of a side single garage to improve vehicular access to rear and provide additional parking and installation of industrial equipment to rear elevation Site Address : Ballasalla Airport Garage Douglas Road Ballasalla Isle of Man IM9 2AN
Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 02.09.2019 __
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 operation of any external equipment, details of the noise emissions from the equipment must be provided to the Department and the Department approve in writing any necessary mitigation to prevent noise nuisance to those living and working nearby. The equipment may not be operational until such times as any mitigation required by the Department is in situ and it must remain as such thereafter.
Reason: To ensure that the development does not result in any adverse noise nuisance to those in adjacent property.
C 3. Prior to the commencement of the use of the site as proposed, there must be in place retractable bollards as shown in DOC 02 to demarcate access to the application site from egress from the garage.
Reason: In the interests of highway safety.
C 4. The stone processing operations shall take place only in the area annotated "warehouse" on the submitted plans along with any external equipment subsequently approved through the
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satisfaction of condition 2 above: the offices shown on the submitted plans may only be used for administration of the stone processing operation and for showroom purposes associated with this use. No approval is hereby granted to any change of use to the remaining buildings on the site (the fuel filling station and associated shop and offices) shown on the submitted plans.
Reason: To clarify the extent of the approval.
Plans/Drawings/Information:
This decision relates to drawings DWG01, DWG02, DOC 01 and DOC 02 all received on 22nd July, 2019.
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
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Officer’s Report
THE SITE 1.1 The site is a parcel of land which lies to the south east of Douglas Road (A5) to the south of Ballasalla village and abutting Balthane Industrial Estate to the north east and south east with the Freeport immediately to the south west. The application site includes all of the buildings on the land including the fuel filling station and shop which are not proposed to be changed as part of the current proposal and are not within the applicant's ownership or control nor are they intended to be.
1.2 The site accommodates a single building which is internally subdivided into two different functions: at the front is the Airport Garage comprising fuel pumps and a retail unit: behind this is an industrial building with associated office and showroom space with hard surfacing surrounding it, all presently unoccupied. The industrial unit has most recently been used for coach repairs and parking although it has had planning approval for industrial use and subdivision into three units. The drawings show the internal industrial space as "warehouse" although its lawful and approved uses are more accurately general industrial.
1.3 The building is functional in appearance, the filling station being a flat roofed and rendered with horizontally proportioned windows and garage and pedestrian doors facing the road and visible therefrom. The industrial building has a pitched roof with flues protruding externally on the rear elevation.
1.4 There are two access points to the rear unit, either side of the building.
1.5 The site frontage is generally open other than the totem sign and a lamp post with a low red brick wall separating the in and out elements of the access (the in being on the Ballasalla side and the out being on the Airport side).
THE PROPOSAL 2.1 Proposed is the continued use of the industrial part of the building (that annotated *Warehouse" on the submitted plans) for industrial processes - in this case the processing of stone - the continued use of the offices as such associated with the stone processing operation and some external changes. These include the stone cladding of the front of the building, the removal of a single garage element on the front elevation to improve vehicular access and the installation of cutting equipment which will sit outside the building, adjacent to the rear
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elevation. The offices shown on the plans were not included in the most recent application for the use of the industrial building.
2.2 The applicant explains that the monowire saw which is proposed to be installed at the site is used for the slicing raw blocks of stone into slabs for further processing, needs to be located outside along with the water recycling unit. Suspended solids are removed from the water which is then used as a coolant in the sawing, milling and polishing processes. They do not currently have noise emission information for the equipment and propose that this is dealt with after the commissioning of the equipment. If there is to be a noise impact, this can be addressed with the installation of sound barriers.
2.3 They refer to the existing access on the Airport side of the building which leads out onto the A5 using part of the site which is not needed by the garage which has its own exit point alongside. They propose to separate these two access points by the installation of bollards and access and egress to the industrial area will be from the Airport side of the frontage.
2.4 The applicant provides supporting information explaining more about the business which processes stone quarried from Pooil Vaaish Quarry. This stone is unique black limestone and the processing produces polished slabs and other products for sale on Island and across the world. At present there is no processing operation on Island and the raw material has to be transported on a 4,000 km round trip for processing. A processing plant on Island would retain value here and would reduce production costs, production time, the risks of stone being damaged in transit and significantly increasing the amount of extracted stone suitable for transformation. The proposal will also result in new jobs being created.
2.5 This material has been used in high profile work such as St. Paul's Cathedral, the National Gallery in England, Soho Place, Burberry's shop on Regent Street in London and Kuwait International Airport and in October the company was approached to supply flooring for the replacement of Pooil Vaaish floor tiles in the Royal Chapel at Hampton Court Palace. The applicant advises that black limestone from Pool Vaaish has been used for centuries in prestigious buildings in the UK as well as the Isle of Man for architectural features such as polished flooring, fireplaces, corbels, steps, memorial stones, signage and walling stone and most famously was used in many 17th century projects by Sir Christopher Wren including the steps and internal floor of St. Paul's Cathedral, the 311 circular steps inside the Monument to the Great Fire of London, Emmanuel College Chapel in Cambridge and the Royal Chapel at Hampton Court Palace.
2.6 It is their intention to wholesale the polished slabs to very few re-sellers each of whom would have geographical exclusivity for a particular part of the world with the applicant company retaining the right to deal directly with the local market and with larger clients ordering finished products ranging from tiles and steps to architectural features and facades.
PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site lies within an area designated on the Area Plan for the South as Industry although there is a long established retail facility at the front of the site.
As such, the following parts of the Strategic Plan are relevant:
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; (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;
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(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; (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways".
3.2 The Area Plan for the South refers to both Balthane and Ronaldsway Industrial estates with specific guidance for both, however, this site sits in neither of these two established estates.
3.3 The Strategic Plan contains a number of policies which are considered relevant to the current proposal:
Business Policy 1: The growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged provided that development proposals accord with the policies of this Plan.
Business Policy 5: On land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution; retailing will not be permitted except where either:
(a) the items to be sold could not reasonably be sold from a town centre location because of their size or nature; or
(b) the items to be sold are produced on the site and their sale could not reasonably be severed from the overall business;
and, in respect of (a) or (b), where it can be demonstrated that the sales would not detract from the vitality and viability of the appropriate town centre shopping area.
PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 Planning approval was granted recently for the land at the rear - 19/00062/B for the conversion of the coach depot to three industrial units and erection of security fencing.
REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 There are no representations on the file at the time of writing.
ASSESSMENT 6.1 Planning approval was granted recently for the land at the rear - 19/00062/B for the conversion of the coach depot to three industrial units and erection of security fencing which is helpful in that it confirms the acceptableness of the site for industrial purposes, and part of the proposed use is consistent with that. The other part of the proposal, the retail/showroom would be consistent with the existing retail use of the rest of the site as a garage and grocery store and it is noted that the previous use contained a showroom within the single storey flat roofed part of the existing building.
6.2 Introducing stone as a façade treatment is likely to be considered an improved and should be welcomed. Similarly, the removal of one of the garages will not have an adverse visual impact on the appearance of the building and this will improve the access to and from the site, providing more space for manoeuvring and additional parking spaces, although parking space is not limited here.
6.3 The only potential issue with this proposal is the introduction of plant which could cause noise nuisance to the occupants of the surrounding area although it is noted that the closest occupants are those using and working in the garage and shop and those in the industrial premises alongside the site: the nearest residential properties are across the busy A5 and separated from the equipment by the existing industrial building and the garage. The Health and Safety Executive in the UK provides guidance on reducing noise levels in stone cutting and
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suggests a range of possible solutions including the type pf blade, enclosure of the noisy machine or sound screens or the use of sound absorbing materials to work areas.
6.4 It is highly relevant here that the operator will be the tenant of the building which is owned by the same company who own the garage alongside. As such, if there is a noise issue which would affect the operation of the garage, then the owner of the site is in a position to do something about this and could even include something about this in the terms of the lease. In any case, it is recommended that there are methods by which the noise nuisance could be controlled and if the application is approved, a condition is recommended which requires that, "Prior to the operation of any external equipment, details of the noise emissions from the equipment must be provided to the Department and the Department approve in writing any necessary mitigation to prevent noise nuisance to those living and working nearby. The equipment may not be operational until such times as any mitigation required by the Department is in situ and it must remain as such thereafter."
6.5 The operation will result in a more sustainable operation, reducing transportation costs. In addition, it will retain added value on Island and will generate employment. As the potential issue regarding noise nuisance is capable of being addressed through a condition, the application is considered to be in accordance with the relevant policies.
CONCLUSION 7.1 The application is supported. Conditions need to be attached to clarify the extent of the approval as the defined site includes all of the buildings on the site including ones which are not proposed to be changed as part of the application.
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 : 04.09.2019
Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER
Stephen Butler
Head of Development Management
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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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