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19/01188/LAW Page 1 of 3
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 19/01188/LAW Applicant : RBS International Proposal : Certificate of Lawful Development for use of car park Site Address : Former Isle Of Man Holiday Camp Victoria Road Douglas Isle Of Man
Planning Officer: Miss Lucy Kinrade Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date of Recommendation: 23.12.2019 __
Conditions and Notes for Approval
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
C 1. Sufficient evidence has been supplied to issue a Certificate of Lawfulness of Use or Development confirming that no enforcement notice can or should be issued in respect of the use of the site edged red on the submitted site plan as a car park which has been in use for a period in excess of 10 years at part of the Former Isle of Man Holiday Camp, Victoria Road, Douglas.
N 1. For the avoidance of doubt this application relates only to the use of the site as a car park, and does not relate to any physical works such as surfacing or lighting at the site. These matters would need to be addressed via the submission of a separate application and assessed accordingly.
Plans/Drawings/Information;
This application relates to site plan, Google Streetview and aerial image and supporting statement all date stamped and received 30/10/2019. __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
Officer’s Report
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 In accordance with the provisions of Schedule 4, Part 1, paragraph 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 ("the Act"), a development carried out in breach of planning control shall become immune from enforcement action after a certain period of time, provided that formal enforcement action has not already been taken. The relevant time periods are set out below:
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19/01188/LAW Page 2 of 3
a) in respect of a breach of planning control consisting of the carrying out without planning approval of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, after the end of the period of 4 years beginning with the date on which the operations were substantially completed; b) in respect of a breach of planning control consisting of the change of use of any building to use as a single dwelling house, after the end of the period of 4 years beginning with the date of the breach; c) in respect of any other breach of planning control, after the end of the period of 10 years beginning with the date of the breach.
1.2 Section 24 of the Act makes provision for the submission and issuing of a Certificate of Lawfulness to establish the lawfulness of a breach of planning control.
1.3 An application for a Certificate of Lawfulness is determined on the basis of fact. Unlike an application for planning approval, it is not concerned with land-use planning considerations or the impacts of the development upon the public realm.
1.4 The principal test is whether, on the balance of probabilities, the breach of planning control has occurred continuously for the given period. The burden of proof rests with the applicant and their evidence must be both precise and unambiguous. If the Planning Directorate has no evidence of its own to contradict that provided by the applicant, then provided that the applicant's evidence is sufficiently precise and unambiguous, a Certificate of Lawfulness may be issued. It is not usually necessary for the Planning Department to corroborate the applicant's evidence.
2.0 APPLICATION SITE 2.1 The application seeks a Certificate of Lawful Use in respect of the use of the former Isle of Man Holiday Camp site at Victoria Road, Douglas as a car park. The car park area measures approx. 45m x 28m and is accessed from Switzerland Road.
2.2 The application seeking the Certificate of Lawfulness was submitted on 30/10/2019.
3.0 PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 There have been a number of previous planning applications submitted for the site PA 11/00178/B and 15/00723/B both for the erection of four office units with associated car parking, drainage and hard and soft landscaping works and both which were granted full approval, although none of these applications have been implemented.
4.0 REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the government's website. This report contains summaries only.
4.1 Douglas Borough Council - objection (20/12/2019) - the site does not have any extant or live applications on the site and its use for car parking has hindered the development of the site, if the application is approved a conditions should be added for its use as a car park for a maximum of 24 months only.
4.2 The Department of Infrastructure (DOI) Highways Services - Objection (20/11/2019) the 15/00723/B application required the lowering of the front boundary wall to achieve visibility, this has not been undertaken and thus the parking is not in accordance with or associated to that application. In addition to this the car park access should also be finished in a stable material for its entire width and for a distance of 5m back from the highway. As visibility and surface materials are substandard the car park is not considered to be acceptable.
5.0 SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE PROVIDED 5.1 The applicant has provided a statement which can be summarised as containing the following supporting information (in no order): o 1 x Site Location Plan 1:1250;
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19/01188/LAW Page 3 of 3
o 1 x Google street view images (2010); o 1 x Google aerial image, and o 1 x Avison Young supporting statement.
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 Considering this application, the applicant seeks to rely on the fact that area outlined in red has been used as a car park for a minimum of 10 years to establish that the development can be considered lawful, as set out in Part 4, Section 24(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999.
6.2 The original evidence submitted consists of a site location plan, Google Street view image from 2010 and google aerial image. On review of the submitted information and cross referencing of government aerial images dating back to 2006 which show the parking of vehicles at the site, it is considered on the balance of probabilities that the site outlined in red has been used as a car parking in excess of 10 years.
6.4 While there have been objecting comments from the local authority and DOI, the matters to be determined as part of the application are only those relating to its period of use and whether this is immune from enforcement action being taken. This application cannot determine surface or access details nor can it condition any restrictive lengths of time of use.
6.5 Similarly while the supporting statement refers to proposed surface details and lighting schemes no information has been provided to this effect but in any case development cannot be considered as part of a Certificate of Lawful Use or Development. In this respect a note will be added to the application reminding the applicant/agent of these matters.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 In view of the above, it is considered that the information and evidence submitted for the application coupled with review of historic aerial mapping images that there is clear and sufficient evidence to justify that the use of the site edged red on the plan as a car park has been in use for a period longer than 10 years.
7.2 It is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Use or Development be issued.
8.0 INTERESTED PARTY STATUS 8.1 As the application is for a CLU this is not required to be assessed. There is no right to appeal against this decision. __
I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Director of Planning and Building Control in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.
Decision Made : Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved
Date : 30.12.2019
Determining officer
Signed : J CHANCE
Jennifer Chance
Director of Planning and Building Control
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