31 May 2019 · Planning Committee
International Distribution Ltd, Optical House, Harcourt Drive, Balthane Industrial Estate, Balthane, Ballasalla, Isle Of Man, IM9 2ah
The proposal involved changing the use of a 12m² ground floor office room within a two-storey industrial unit to retail for selling snuff and related products, limited to periods around major events like Southern 100, TT, Manx Grand Prix, and rallies, with hours 9am-5pm Monday-Friday for five years.
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The Planning Committee overturned the officer's recommendation for approval, determining that the proposal did not accord with Business Policies 5 and 10 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 due to …
General Policy 2
Requires development in industrial zoning to provide satisfactory amenity standards including safe access, adequate parking, and no unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows. Officer found proposal compliant due to adequate on-site parking (at least 14 car spaces) for small 12m² retail area and event-specific low-impact demand from passers-by, not destination shoppers.
Business Policy 5
Permits retailing in industrial areas only if items could not reasonably be sold from town centres due to size/nature or are produced on-site, without detracting from town centre vitality. Officer viewed temporary snuff sales as justifiable due to event timing, licensing issues for town centre pop-ups, and link to on-site distribution; Committee found insufficient justification, leading to refusal.
Business Policy 10
Restricts retail development to established town and village centres, except as per Business Policy 5. Officer considered exception applied due to temporary/ancillary nature; Committee disagreed, seeing it as unjustified retail in industrial zone.
Transport Policy 7
Requires parking provision per Department standards. No specific retail minima exist, but officer deemed 17 available spaces (meeting size criteria for at least 14 cars) adequate for small-scale temporary use, overruling Highways' survey request.
no objection to the application
Malew Parish Commissioners had no objection; Highway Services objected due to insufficient parking capacity demonstration; Isle of Man Enterprises raised concerns about policy compliance.
Key concern: insufficient demonstration of spare site parking capacity
Malew Parish Commissioners
No ObjectionMalew Parish Commissioners have no objection to the following applications.
Highway Services
ObjectionHighway Services opposes the application as it has not been demonstrated that there would be sufficient spare site parking capacity to accommodate the proposed additional parking demand that would be generated by the proposals.; In order to remove the highway objection, the applicant should provide car parking surveys at regular intervals throughout a weekday to demonstrate that there would be enough site car parking available to accommodate the proposed additional site parking demand.; It would be useful if the applicant could also provide further information to justify the likely level of increased parking demand that would be generated by the development.
Conditions requested: a planning condition is imposed to limit the proposed additional use of the site to the temporary periods only as stated in the application
Isle of Man Enterprises
ObjectionWe would just like to raise that the above application was highlighted as possibly at odds with Business Policy 5 as this use would be better placed on the high street. It doesn't appear to justify a change of use to Retail from Light Industrial.
