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PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 19/00537/B Applicant : Mrs Cynthia Corkill Proposal : Extension to farm shop, erection of shed and siting of a container (retrospective) Site Address : Land Adjacent To Brook House Sandygate Farm Shop Ballamenagh Road Sandygate Ramsey Isle Of Man
Planning Officer: Mr Nick Salt Photo Taken : 13.06.2019 Site Visit : 13.06.2019 Expected Decision Level : Planning Committee
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 24.06.2019 __
Conditions and Notes for Approval
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
C 1. The goods sold from the farm shop hereby approved shall be sourced from produce solely grown or produced on the Isle of Man and seafood products caught off the Isle of Man or processed here and ancillary and complementary items to the use of the building as a farm shop.
Reason: the part of the building shown as farm shop shall not be used for any other purpose within Class 1 of Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2012 (or any Order revoking and/or re-enacting that Order with or without modification).
C 2. The area of the farm shop shall be as shown on the approved Site Plan Drawing date- stamped as having been received 12th May 2019, unless otherwise agreed in advance in writing with the Department.
Reason: to prevent the establishment of a more general retail use in this countryside location or an unsustainable expansion of the use
C 3. If no longer required for use as a farm shop, the three building structures shown on the approved site plan shall be removed from the site and the ground restored to its original condition within 6 months of cessation of the use.
Reason: To ensure that redundant buildings do not remain in the rural area of the site.
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Plans/Drawings/Information;
This decision relates to the following plans, information and drawings, date stamped received 26th April 2019:
o Location Plan o Site Plan o Photographs as existing o Applicant statement
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Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
It is recommended that the following should be given Interested Person Status as they are considered to have sufficient interest in the subject matter of the application to take part in any subsequent proceedings and are not mentioned in Article 6(4):
Manx Utilities Authority as they satisfy all of the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Department's Operational Policy on Interested Person Status (July 2018). __
Officer’s Report
1.0 THE SITE 1.1 The site is a small parcel of land adjacent to Brook House on Sandygate Road - to the immediate east of large agricultural dwellings, bounding Ballamenagh Road. The site is around 150m2 and contains two small garden shed structure and a shipping container which all serve as buildings for Sandygate Farm Shop. The site is adjacent to the main concrete farm access where is meets the road, and includes a rough area for customer parking.
2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The application is a retrospective one for the extension of an existing farm shop (which has not had planning approval and is therefore also the subject of this application), with the erection of an additional shed and the siting of a converted shipping container. The two sheds are the size of a standard garden shed.
3.0 PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 There is no planning history for this site which is considered materially relevant to this application.
4.0 PLANNING POLICY 4.1 The application site is in an area of 'White Land' on the 1982 Development Plan; it is not zoned for any development.
4.2 There are therefore a number of Strategic Plan Policies which are relevant to this application:
4.2.1 General Policy 3:
"Development will not be permitted outside of those areas which are zoned for development on the appropriate Area Plan with the exception of:
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(a) essential housing for agricultural workers who have to live close to their place of work; (Housing Policies 7, 8, 9 and 10); (b) conversion of redundant rural buildings which are of architectural, historic, or social value and interest; (Housing Policy 11); (c) previously developed land(1) which contains a significant amount of building; where the continued use is redundant; where redevelopment would reduce the impact of the current situation on the landscape or the wider environment; and where the development proposed would result in improvements to the landscape or wider environment; (d) the replacement of existing rural dwellings; (Housing Policies 12, 13 and 14); (e) location-dependent development in connection with the working of minerals or the provision of necessary services; (f) building and engineering operations which are essential for the conduct of agriculture or forestry; (g) development recognised to be of overriding national need in land use planning terms and for which there is no reasonable and acceptable alternative; and (h) buildings or works required for interpretation of the countryside, its wildlife or heritage.
4.2.2 Environment Policy 1: "The countryside and its ecology will be protected for its own sake. For the purposes of this policy, the countryside comprises all land which is outside the settlements defined in Appendix 3 at A.3.6 or which is not designated for future development on an Area Plan. Development which would adversely affect the countryside will not be permitted 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."
4.2.3 Environment Policy 15: "Where the Department is satisfied that there is agricultural or horticultural need for a new building (including a dwelling), sufficient to outweigh the general policy against development in the countryside, and that the impact of this development including buildings, accesses, servicing etc. is acceptable, such development must be sited as close as is practically possible to existing building groups and be appropriate in terms of scale, materials, colour, siting and form to ensure that all new developments are sympathetic to the landscape and built environment of which they will form a part.
"Only in exceptional circumstances will buildings be permitted in exposed or isolated areas or close to public highways and in all such cases will be subject to appropriate landscaping. The nature and materials of construction must also be appropriate to the purposes for which it is intended.
"Where new agricultural buildings are proposed next to or close to existing residential properties, care must be taken to ensure that there is no unacceptable adverse impact through any activity, although it must be borne in mind that many farming activities require buildings which are best sited, in landscape terms, close to existing building groups in the rural landscape."
4.2.4 Environment Policy 16 (in part): "The use of existing rural buildings for new purposes such as tourist, or small-scale industrial/commercial use may be permitted where:
(a) it is demonstrated that the building is no longer required for its original purpose and where the building is substantially intact and structurally capable of renovation; (b) the reuse of the building will result in the preservation of fabric which is of historic, architectural, or social interest or is otherwise of visual attraction; (c) it is demonstrated that the building could accommodate the new use without requiring extension or adverse change to appearance or character; (d) there would not be unacceptable implications in terms of traffic generation;
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(e) conversion does not lead to dispersal of activity on such a scale as to prejudice the vitality and viability of existing town and village services; and (f) the use of existing buildings involves significant levels of redevelopment to accommodate the new use, the benefits secured by the proposal in terms of impact on the environment and the rural economy shall outweigh the continued impact of retaining the existing buildings on site."
4.2.5 Environment Policy 17 deals with the development of buildings and other facilities for market gardens etc., however paragraph 7.14.2 of the Strategic Plan states, "Selling the produce grown in a market garden or a nursery from the site may not constitute development, but retailing other products does, and will be subject to the Department's general retail policies." This is relevant as the applicant has stated that not all goods sold in the farm shop are grown on site.
4.2.6 Business Policy 10 is therefore relevant: "Retail development will be permitted only in established town and village centres, with the exceptions of neighbourhood shops in large residential areas and those instances identified in Business Policy 5."
4.2.7 Transport Policy 7: "The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards." There are no specific standards for uses such as this one.
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Manx Utilities object to the application as there is a high voltage overhead line in the area of the proposed extension, shed and container (04.06.19).
5.2 DoI Highway Services commented on 31.05.19 and state that they have no objection to the application on the basis that whilst there may be some increase in parking demand, the farm shop is considered far enough off the main road so as not to have a detrimental impact on highway safety.
5.3 Jurby Parish Commissioners have no objections to the application (22.06.19).
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 There is a presumption that new retail uses should be located within existing retail town centres so as to avoid any impact on the vitality of those centres. Proposed, however, is not a major out-of-town retail development. It is of a scale relative to the existing agricultural enterprise and would sell or serve products including those produced on the farm itself. The operation of a small farm shop on this site could not be said to harmfully impact on the vitality or viability of existing nearby centres, not least since there are very few farm shops on the Island in any case.
6.2 It is not considered that the proposal strictly meets the requirements set out in EP16 due to the use of new buildings rather than existing agricultural ones, or EP17 as not all of the products sold are produced at the adjacent farm. Whilst the policy tests aforementioned in this report are not met by this proposal, the nature and scale of the development are not considered unacceptable. It is considered that small, rural farm shops such as this are beneficial to rural areas and have limited impact on main settlement centres provided that they remain at an appropriate size. An unacceptable expansion in size would not be possible using the sheds per this application, and any further expansion would only be lawful via an additional planning application, where the scale of the operations proposed could be assessed anew.
6.3 With regard to the overhead cable, the case officer carried out a site visit on 13.06.19 and noted that the cable was a sufficient distance from the sheds/container and unlikely to be
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affected by the operation of the farm shop. In any case, this is not considered a reason for refusal in this instance.
6.4 Highway Services have not raised concerns with regard to access and parking. It is considered that the use of the lane by heavy agricultural machinery onto the road would have a greater impact than the likely limited levels of customer traffic.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 In summary, the operation of a farm shop from these sheds in this location is considered appropriate for the area and of limited wider impact. It does not accord with the Development Plan but is recommended for approval as an exception on the basis of the above assessment.
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.
8.3 The Department of Environment Food and Agriculture is responsible for the determination of planning applications. As a result, where officers within the Department make comments in a professional capacity they cannot 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:...15.07.2019
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
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