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162 Church Road Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man
1.1 The application site is two adjoined buildings six storey in height on Church Road Marina, Douglas. It is currently in a bad state of decay after being uninhabited for some time. The Applicant has recently purchased it. It was previously run as two guest houses. 1.2 The building is to the bottom of Church Road Marina near the junction with Douglas Loch Promenade. It is the bottom of a row of similar terraced buildings that are a mix of guest houses, apartments and single dwellings. On the Douglas Local Area Plan, Church Rd Marina falls within an area deemed Tourism/Leisure. The surrounding area is a mix of commercial, tourism, leisure and residential. It should be noted that a large portion of Loch Promenade is similarly deemed tourism/leisure but has numerous buildings used as residential. For example, Tower House apartments in eye sight of the application site. 1.3 The building is finished with a painted smooth render to the front elevation and rear elevations. The roof is dark slate with four flat roof dormer windows to the front pitch. 1.4 The building as mentioned above is currently deemed as guest houses. It had 48 bedrooms in total but has been unoccupied for many years. Remedial work has been done internally to make safe.
2.1 Full planning approval is sought for the change of use of 162 Church Rd Marina into 10 residential apartments to all floors. 2.2 There would be minimal external alterations to the rear elevation. This would be the altering of a door and window to the ground floor level for access purposes and creation of a refuse store. No other alterations are proposed externally that would change the aesthetics of the property. 2.3 Internally, the basement and ground floors would be linked to create 2 duplex apartments that would each house 3 bedrooms. No. 2 would house the communal stairwell to the upper floors along with corridor access to the rear exit door. No. 1 would use the existing front entrance door and be completely self contained from the other
apartments. 2.4 Internally, first, second and third floors would see the creation of 2No. 2 bedroom apartments to each floor. The fourth floor would see the creation of 2No. 1 bedroom apartments. This gives a total number of 10 apartments. 2.5 As per point 1.4, the building has not been ran as a guest house for some years and has run into a bad state of decay. It has been advertised for sale off and on for a few years and not seen any interest until recently with the applicant. Due to the investment needed to refurbish the building it is not felt to be economically viable to set up as a guest house again.
Below are the key Strategic Planning Policies that have been reviewed and taken into consideration during the creation of this proposal.
General Policy 2 contains some useful wording: "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; (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".
Housing Policy 17 of the Strategic Plan could be classed as a relevant policy in terms of the principles it outlines: "The conversion of buildings into flats will generally be permitted in residential areas provided that: (a) adequate space can be provided for clothes-drying, refuse storage, general amenity, and, if practical, car-parking;
(b) the flats created will have a pleasant clear outlook, particularly from the principal rooms and (c) if possible, this involves the creation of parking on site or as part of an overall traffic management strategy for the area."
The Department will require that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards.' The standard in respect of town centre residential development is one car parking space per each one-bedroom flat and two spaces per each two-bedroom flats but this can be relaxed when having regard to: (a) the location of the housing relative to public transport, employment, and public amenities; ( b) the size of the dwelling; (c) any restriction on the nature of the occupancy (such as sheltered housing); and (d) the impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area.
3.1 Each apartment is self-contained, $2 x$ one bedrooms, $6 x$ two bedrooms and a further $2 x$ three bedroom apartments. The apartments are of a good size, large enough to accommodate a lounge, kitchen and dining room. There is adequate space to allow for the drying of clothes etc, with all apartments being installed with tumble dryers, central heating and storage cupboards throughout. All living areas are to be located to the front elevation of the building to allow for a pleasant clear outlook. 3.2 Due to being a town centre development there is no outdoor amenity space provided barring to the lower level apartments utilising the yard space. However there is good access to public open space in the nearby vicinity, namely Douglas Promenade, Villa Marina Gardens, The Quay, The Beach, Derby Square Gardens and Nobles Park. All these in close proximity would comfortably allow for respite from the main activity to the area. 3.3 Bin provision will be to the rear elevations to ground level. The existing external stores will be removed and the space utilised for 4No. 660 litre refuse bins that can be accessed from the rear exit door to the ground floor by all residents.
4.1 There is no on site car parking provision. 4.2 Transport Policy 7 requires one parking space per one bedroom apartment and two per two bedroom apartment. This equates to 18 spaces to serve the 10 apartments. Whilst these spaces cannot be achieved on site we feel flexibility should be given due to the application site being in the town centre which is within close proximity to primary public transportation links and is also no increase on the car parking requirement if it continued to run as a guest house. 4.3 The site is close to bus stops serving the entire island and only a 10 minute walk from the main bus depot, offering routes throughout the Island, and is also centrally located within the Island's capital. There are also taxi ranks, local services and employment opportunities to encourage pedestrian movement amongst the above. 4.4 There are numerous on street parking spaces surrounding the site to the Douglas Promenade, Finch Road, Gaiety Road and The Chester Street Car Park. 4.5 This all works with the strategic plan where it allows for a relaxed standard where "In the case of town centre and previously developed sites, the Department will consider reducing this requirement having regard to: (a) the location of the housing relative to public transport, employment, and public amenities".
Provision is allowed within the strategic plan in Appendix 7, Parking standards, A.7.1 which says "however, in general, the need to find a use for redundant buildings which are in sound condition will outweigh the drawback of any shortfall in parking provision". 4.6 The proposed will not increase the parking demand on the existing demand the building can have as a 48 bedroom guest house. 4.7 With the above it is felt an objection on grounds of a lack of parking is not considered significant enough to warrant a refusal.
10No. cycle parking spaces have been shown to the shared yard space utilising wall mounted racks. This allows one space per apartment.
It should be considered that the proposal can be viewed favourably when assessed against each of the key criteria. Provisions have been made from the Development Plan with strong regard for Strategic Plan Policies:
It is felt that the proposal complies with the Policies outlined above.
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