Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No.: 24/91426/C Applicant: Mr Andrew Bradley Proposal: Additional use of property as tourist accommodation Site Address: 4 Summerhill Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 4PJ Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 03.02.2025 _________________________________________________________________

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.

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason.

It is considered that there is no demonstrable harm arising from the proposal and, in view of the provisions of Paragraph 9.5.8, General Policy 2, Housing Policy 16, and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016, the application is therefore recommended for approval.

Plans/Drawings/Information;

This decision relates to the following plans and drawings, date stamped received on 6th January 2025;

• o Drawing No. 23-125-15 Rev A
• o Drawing No. 23-125-14 Rev A
• o Drawing No. 23-125-13 Rev A _________________________________________________________________

Right to Appeal

It is recommended that the following organisations should NOT be given the Right to Appeal: DOI Highway Services - No objection Douglas Borough Council - No objection

_________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report

APPLICATION SITE

1.1 The application site is within the curtilage of 4 Summerhill Road, which is an existing three storey Victorian mid-terraced dwelling located on the north-eastern side of summerhill. - 1.2 The property has no off street parking. PROPOSAL

2.1 The current planning application seeks approval for the additional use of the property as tourist accommodation. No external alterations are proposed with this application. PLANNING HISTORY - 3.1 There is one previous application which is relevant to note PA23/01280/B which was for "Proposed alterations to form roof terrace with external staircase," which was permitted. PLANNING POLICY - 4.1 The site lies within an area zoned as "Mixed Use" on the Area Plan for the East, Map 4 Douglas and is situated within a Conservation Area. The property is not situated within a Flood Risk Zone.

4.2 Given the nature of the of the land designation and the property being within a Conservation Area, Section 18(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act (1999) is the most relevant in the assessment of this application. Followed by paragraph 7.29.2 and Environment Policy 35 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan, which set out development in Conservation Areas will only be permitted where they preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area. - 4.3 With regards to the proposed tourist use of the property, the following Strategic Policies are relevant, General Policy 2, Strategic Policy 8, Environment Policy 22, Business Policies 11 and 13 and Transport Policy 7 from the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 which set out the general standards towards acceptable development, the acceptability of tourist development provided it does not adversely affect the surrounding area, that neighbouring amenity is not compromised and that there is the recommended amount of parking space available.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 The following representations can be found in full online;

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 proposed use would have a similar or less parking demand to the existing situation." (14.01.25) - 5.3 Douglas Borough Council have considered the application and state, "No objection." (17.01.25)

ASSESSMENT

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

• - Section 18(4) test
• - neighbouring amenity
• - highway services
• - other matters 6.3 SECTION 18(4) TEST

• 6.3.1 The property is situated within a Conservation Area, as such it is necessary to test the application under section 18(4) of the Town and Country Act (1999), see section 4.2 of this report, on whether the works preserve or enhance the Conservation Area.

• 6.3.2 When looking at the appearance of the Conservation Area and whether the proposal would impact this, it is noted that the proposed additional change of use does not include any external alterations. With this in mind and noting that the additional use of tourist should not alter the Conservation Area as a whole, the proposal will pass this part of the Section 18(4) test by preserving the Conservation Area.
• 6.3.3 Turning towards the character of the Conservation Area and whether the works would impact this, tourist accommodation is used in almost the same manner as residential use, with the likelihood that there would not be a change on the overall character of Summerhill. As such the proposal would should not impact the character of the Conservation Area and the proposal will pass this part of the Section 18(4) test by preserving the Conservation Area.
• 6.4 NEIGHBOURING AMENITY

• 6.4.1 It is difficult to assess how an individual person would behave whether they be a tourist or permanent resident. As a tourist, a person may be out a lot of the time, but may also have greater late nights and be disruptive on return. On the other hand, permanent residents may be at home more of the time, but be more likely to invite friends or family over for dinner or parties that may be noisy. In general terms, however, the majority of people tend to behave well and raise no concerns, although there will always be a percentage that might not, whether they are a permanent resident or otherwise.
• 6.4.2 Business Policy 13 indicates that permission will generally be given for the use of private residential properties as tourist accommodation providing that it can be demonstrated that such use would not compromise the amenities of neighbouring residents.
• 6.4.3 The existing property would be used as a residential property, of which the additional use of this application will enable the owners to part-rent the property for tourist accommodation. The dwelling itself whilst situated within a residential environment, is within a Mixed Use area, as such the site would be subject to a certain level of noise disturbance by dint of its location.
• 6.4.4 It is considered therefore deemed that the use of the existing residential dwelling as tourist accommodation would have a similar impact, whether it is used for tourist or permanent residential use and therefore would not have a significant impact upon the living conditions of the neighbouring properties.
• 6.5 HIGHWAY SERVICES

• 6.5.1 The property does not supply on-site parking and as such the parking provided for the property would be on-street parking, which would be used irrespectively if the property was used as a permanent residential accommodation or tourist purposes. OTHER MATTERS
• 6.6.1 The additional use as tourist use would not result in any changes beyond current occupation in terms of an increase in water usage, criminal activity nor increase the likely hood of spread of fire beyond the existing arrangement, and so the proposal is considered acceptable in these respects. CONCLUSION
• 7.1 For these reasons the proposal is considered to comply with the relevant polices of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 and there is no demonstrable harm arising from the application. The living conditions of the neighbouring properties are not to be made worse as a result of the proposal and there is to be no impact on the designated Conservation Area, As such the application is recommended for approval. RIGHT TO APPEAL AND RIGHT TO GIVE EVIDENCE

8.1 The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) Order 2019 sets out the process for determining planning applications (including appeals). It sets out a Right to Appeal (i.e. to submit an appeal against a planning decision) and a Right to Give Evidence at Appeals (i.e. to participate in an appeal if one is submitted). - 8.2 Article A10 sets out that the right to appeal is available to:

• o applicant (in all cases);
• o a Local Authority; Government Department; Manx Utilities; and Manx National Heritage that submit a relevant objection; and
• o any other person who has made an objection that meets specified criteria.

8.3 Article 8(2)(a) requires that in determining an application, the Department must decide who has a right to appeal, in accordance with the criteria set out in article A10. - 8.4 The Order automatically affords the Right to Give Evidence to the following (no determination is required):

• o any appellant or potential appellant (which includes the applicant);
• o the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, the Department of Infrastructure and the local authority for the area;
• o any other person who has submitted written representations (this can include other Government Departments and Local Authorities); and
• o in the case of a petition, a single representative.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the 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, and/or rights to appeal.

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 04.02.2025 Determining Officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

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