DEC Officer Report

Application No.: 24/00838/C Applicant: Miss Natalie Kerr Proposal: Change of use to a dog grooming studio. Site Address: Unit 7G South Quay Industrial Estate Douglas Isle Of Man IM1 5AT Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Photo Taken: 01.08.2024 Site Visit: 01.08.2024 Expected Decision Level: Planning Committee Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 10.09.2024 _________________________________________________________________

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. There shall be no ancillary retail sales from the premises, the primary use of which shall remain as a dog grooming business.

Reason: To safeguard the amenities of occupiers of adjoining buildings and to maintain the vitality and viability of Douglas Town Centre.

N 1. Notwithstanding the comments made within the covering letter, no permission has been given for signage within this application.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 10 and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 18th July 2024;

• o Covering Letter
• o Location Plan
• o Site Plan
• o Existing Floor Plan
• o Proposed Floor Plan

This decision also relates to an email dated received 27.08.24 which discusses the car parking on site. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

None _________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report

THIS APPLICATION IS REFERRED TO THE PLANNING COMMITTEE AS THE PROPOSED USE IS CONTRARY TO THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

THE APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is within South Quay Industrial Estate, Douglas, specifically Unit 7G, which is a small masonry built structure situated to the end of a block to units to the Southern end of the Industrial Estate. - 1.2 The site can be accessed either via the estate road, which is from South Quay or via a road from Douglas Head Road. THE PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the change of use of the unit into a dog grooming studio. No alterations are proposed within this application. PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 There are no previous applications upon the site which are relevant to this assessment. PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Industrial" on the Area Plan for the East, Map 4 Douglas. The site is not situated within a Conservation Area nor a Flood Risk Zone but it should be noted that the roadway directly surrounding the site to the East and South are in a High Likelihood Surface Water Flood Risk Area.

4.2 In terms of the Strategic Plan (2016) the following Strategic Policies are the most relevant.

• - Business Policy 1 - sets out that the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged.
• - Business Policy 5 - on land zoned for industrial use, permission will be given only for industrial development or for storage and distribution
• - Transport Policy 7 in connection with Appendix 7.6 which sets out the requirement for parking standards.

4.3 The following Strategic Policies are also relevant;

• - Strategic Policy 1 which seeks that development make the best use of resources
• - General Policy 2 which sets out general 'Development Control' considerations which are arguably relevant even where a proposal is not in accordance with the land-use designation, the wider impact (the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality) and parking/access/highway safety.

REPRESENTATIONS

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

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 as the operation is considered relatively minor, providing permission is conditioned to single person operation and by appointment only." (26.07.24)

5.3 No comments have been received from Douglas Corporation at the time of writing this report, 09.09.24.

ASSESSMENT

6.1 The main issues to consider in the assessment of this planning application are:

• - Principle
• - Neighbouring amenity
• - Parking
• - Other matters

- 6.2 PRINCIPLE

• 6.2.1 The proposed use as a dog groomer would fit within Class 1.1 - Shops, as such the main issues to consider with regards to this application is whether the proposed use is acceptable for the site and whether there is an acceptable amount of parking for the proposed.
• 6.2.2 There is no doubt that the grooming of pets can be done from a town centre location, with several dog groomers already functions within the Islands existing town centres, whilst this is the case, there have been several applications for dog groomers from residential properties and other locations such as industrial units, in the most recent years.
• 6.2.3 The difficulty with applications such as this one, is that the proposed use could successfully be done from a town centre location, which has been proved by the already existing groomers within a town centre locations. What splits this application apart from the already existing groomers is the site in which they are wanting to work from.
• 6.2.4 The existing site was constructed around 1989, having been constructed to showcase the work of the tenants within the adjacent unit, which means that the site is relatively small and only suitable for certain uses. The small sizing of the site means that it's unlikely to be used as industrial and more than likely used as some type of commercial venture.
• 6.2.5 With this in mind, one of the most logical would be an office, which would mean more than one vehicle would be going to the site. During the officers site visit, it could be seen that parking was at a premium with very little space available for any parking, as such confirmation was sought on where the parking for customers and the applicant would be. To which they have stated that they would not be bringing a vehicle to the site and that there is one car parking space available with the unit to the front of the site.

- 6.3 NEIGHBOURING AMENITY

• 6.3.1 Turning towards the proposal and how it might impact the neighbouring amenity of the other units in the surrounding area. It's noted during the officers site visit that the Industrial Estate was relatively quiet at the time of the visit, whilst this is the case, industrial estates generally have a multitude of different types of businesses which tend to have their own baseline of noise. As such any noise from barking and the comings/ goings of customers in vehicles is unlikely to be noticed.

6.4 PARKING

• 6.4.1 As stated above the parking available is one space directly in front of the unit, generally as per Transport Policy 7, two spaces for such a business is required, whilst this is the case due to the sites location close to easy to get to transport networks in this instance one space would be acceptable.

6.5 OTHER MATTERS

• 6.5.1 Due to the sites location its deemed that there is no need to condition opening/closing times and whilst reference is made within the covering letter regarding signage this cannot be assessed within this application as such a note should be attached to the application.

CONCLUSION

7.1 Overall whilst it's noted that the proposed use could successfully be provided within a town centre location, due to the overall size of the site and what the site could realistically be used for, the proposal would have a small impact upon the surrounding area and it's unlikely that the impact of a single employee operating in this location is unlikely to draw materially harmful levels of trade away from the town centre.

7.2 It should be noted that a condition should be attached in that the site cannot be used as anything else within Class 1.1 - Shops, and that no retailing from the site should be allowed. - 7.3 As such, noting the above, the proposal is considered to comply with General Policy 2, Business Policy 10 and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan. Therefore, it is recommended for approval.

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 confirm that this decision has been made by the Planning Committee in accordance with the authority afforded to that body by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Committee has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded interested person status and/or rights to appeal.

Decision Made : Permitted Committee Meeting Date: 30.09.2024

Signed : V PORTER 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 Customer note This copy of the officer report reflects the content of the office copy and has been produced in this form for the benefit of our online service/customers and archive record.