189146

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PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No. : 24/00010/B Applicant : OFD Construction Limited Proposal : Proposed extension to Existing Dance School (amendment to PA 20/01251/B) Site Address : Unity Dance Studio Former Christian Bretheren Church Switzerland Road Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 4NG

Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level :

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Permitted Date of Recommendation: 09.05.2024 __

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 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 and to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented planning approvals.

C 2. Prior to the construction of the extension, a scheme for the introduction of sound insulation of the new accommodation hereby approved must be approved in writing by the Department and the development undertaken in accordance with the approved details. The scheme must address the potential for noise nuisance in Highgrove Mansions and include means of reducing this potential issue.

Reason: to ensure that the development accords with Environment Policy 22 and General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan.

C 3. No customer shall remain in the building outside of the hours of 08:30 hrs to 21:00 hrs on any day.

Reason: In order to protect local residents' amenities in terms of noise or any other disturbance that may arise from additional classes. This condition does not restrict the building being accessed by staff and is not intended to restrict the carrying out of related activities (such as cleaning) at other times

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This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. Overall, there are no material changes to policy since the previously approved application, with the alterations proposed being deemed to comply with General Policy 2 and there being no additional impacts to neighbouring amenity nor parking standards from the proposal, as such the proposal also complies with Environment Policy 22 and Transport Policy 4.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 19th January 2024; o Drawing No. EX 01 o Drawing No. 23-117-PL-01 Rev A o Drawing No. 23-117-PL-02 Rev A o Drawing No. 23-117-PL-03 Rev A o Drawing No. 23-117-PL-04 Rev A o Drawing No. 23-117-PL-05 Rev A __

Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

Officer’s Report

THE APPLICATION SITE 1.1 The application site is within the site of Unity Dance Studio which is a dance studio situated to the inside of the hairpin bend of Switzerland Road. The highway very quickly degenerates into a track after the application site, which goes on to provide pedestrian access to the office uses off Victoria Road above.

1.2 Switzerland Road is wide enough to accommodate two way traffic, parking on the seaward side reduces the width of the road in places to only sufficient for one vehicle at a time to pass a parked vehicle.

THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for a two storey extension to the premises, which has amendments to the already approved PA20/01251/B. The two storey extension will provide an open car parking area to the ground floor level with a staircase, WC and store, with an additional dance studio measuring 8m by 6m to the first floor with a store room to the rear measuring 2.2m by 2.713m.

PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 The original hall situated upon the site received permission in 1986 under PA86/01298/B, of which the change to dance studio was done in 2017 under PA17/00851/C. The most relevant to this application is PA20/01251/B which was for "Side extension to provide additional dance area space" which was approved with the following conditions other than the typical 4 year commencement condition;

3.2 Prior to the construction of the extension, a scheme for the introduction of sound insulation of the new accommodation hereby approved must be approved in writing by the Department and the development undertaken in accordance with the approved details. The scheme must address the potential for noise nuisance in Highgrove Mansions and include means of reducing this potential issue. Reason: to ensure that the development accords with Environment Policy 22 and General Policy 2 of the Strategic Plan.

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3.3 No customer shall remain in the building outside of the hours of 08:30 hrs to 21:00 hrs on any day. Reason: In order to protect local residents' amenities in terms of noise or any other disturbance that may arise from additional classes. This condition does not restrict the building being accessed by staff and is not intended to restrict the carrying out of related activities (such as cleaning) at other times

3.4 Prior to the use of the approved extension there must be approved by the Department and implemented in full a scheme showing the omission of space nine and details of the provision of a bicycle parking stand. The development must be undertaken in accordance with these details and the parking and bicycle stand must be retained as such thereafter. Reason: to ensure that the development has sufficient car parking and supports sustainable travel.

PLANNING POLICY 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Mixed Use" upon the Area Plan for the East, Map 4 - Douglas. The site is not situated within a Conservation Area nor a Flood Risk Zone.

4.2 Given the nature of the proposal and the land designation the most relevant Isle of Man Strategic Plan policies are General Policy 2 which sets out "general development control" considerations, Environment Policy 22 which seeks in part that development will not be permitted if it will unacceptably harm the amenity of the nearby properties in terms of noise pollution and Transport Policy 7 in accordance with appendix 7.

REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 The following representations can be found in full online, below is a short summery;

5.2 Highway Services have considered the proposal and state, "After reviewing this Application, Highway Services HDC finds it to have no significant negative impact upon highway safety, network functionality and/or parking." (20.02.23)

5.3 Douglas Borough Council have considered the application and state "No objections." (05.02.24)

ASSESSMENT 6.1 The main issue to consider with this application noting that PA20/01251/B is still in time, is whether there have been any material changes to the site with regards to the policies within section 4 of this application.

6.2 When looking at the proposal within this application and the previously approved application there is a reduction of approximately 8sqm to the rear of the proposal which was to include the proposed staircase of which the application form states that the reasoning for the change is the very poor ground conditions, the installation on an additional rooflight to the Northern elevation and the change of materials on the outer of the proposal, though it is unclear from the previously approved application what the proposed material was to be as there was no annotation on the plans.

6.3 When looking at these changes to the proposal, they are inkeeping with the original church structure and wouldn't look out of place within the character of the streetscene. As such the material alterations to the proposal are deemed acceptable.

6.4 Whilst objections were raised with the previously approved application, none have been received with this application, as such it is deemed that any noise impact from the ongoing use of the site as a Dance studio must be acceptable to the nearest neighbouring properties of "Highgrove Mansions." It should also be noted that the site is situated within a relatively

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central Douglas location and is close by to a variety of uses, within an area zoned as Mixed Use, which would by dint of its location have a general noise level expected of such a site.

6.5 One issue that was potential with such an application is if the parking for the application had changed during the time period of the previous approval and this application, due to outside factors. Having visited the site on different occasions to ascertain the parking on site and off site, there is a suitable amount of parking to the surrounding area.

CONCLUSION 7.1 For the above reasoning it is deemed that the proposal is acceptable and is recommended approval. It is noted that there are conditions attached to the previously approved application which should be transferred onto this application, which is condition 2, regarding sound insulation and condition 3 which is regarding opening and closing times of the site.

INTERESTED PERSON STATUS 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019, the following persons are automatically interested persons: (a) the applicant (including an agent acting on their behalf); (b) any Government Department that has made written representations that the Department considers material; (c) the Highways Division of the Department of Infrastructure; (d) Manx National Heritage where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (e) Manx Utilities where it has made written representations that the Department considers material; (f) the local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated; and (g) a local authority adjoining the authority referred to in paragraph (f) where that adjoining authority has made written representations that the Department considers material.

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 above who should be given Interested Person Status __

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Acting Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded Interested Person Status

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 10.05.2024

Determining officer Signed : A MORGAN Abigail Morgan

Acting Head of Development Management

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.