Access Alterations Planning Statement

Department of Planning Department of Infrastructure Murray House Mount Havelock Douglas Isle of Man IM1 2SF

RECEIVED ON 15 AUG 2014 DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE

14th August 2014.

Dear Sirs,

Re: Proposed alterations to existing site access, Ballaveare, Old Castletown Road, Port Soderick, Isle of Man.

Please find attached a detailed planning application for proposed alterations to an existing access to a residential property.

PA 14/00381/B recently granted planning approval for a replacement dwelling on the site and included moving the existing access to the south west (left when viewed from the road) from its current position. The repositioning of the entrance was to improve the sight lines for vehicles exiting the site.

Following the granting of planning approval for PA14/00381/B, it was felt that more of the existing trees to the front boundary of the property could be retained by keeping the existing entrance where it was and increasing the width of the entrance instead to improve safety.

The existing entrance is currently unsafe for three specific reasons;

1. The width of the drive is very narrow
2. The length of the drive in front of the gates is not long enough to allow a car to sit and wait without the car overhanging the highway
3. The walls to either side of the drive are taller than 1m in height and obstruct visibility.

View of existing entrance

The proposed works will rectify the above safety issues by;

1. Increasing the width of the drive to aid manoeuvring of vehicles
2. Increasing the length of the drive in front of the gate to 5.5m to allow a vehicle to park on entering or leaving the property
3. Reducing the height of the boundary wall where required to achieved the required sight lines of 2.4m x 25m.

Please note that the proposed works will not require any of the mature trees next to the existing entrance to be removed, although some of the existing hedging will need to be removed and replanted further back in the site to achieve the visibility splays.

The position of the new curved wall to the left of the entrance (as viewed from the highway) will correspond with the position of the existing curved wall and will sit on the existing foundations. The curved wall to the right of the entrance will be in a new position and due to it being within the

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canopy spread of an existing tree, engineered design foundations will be employed to bridge over the tree roots to ensure the health of the tree is not impacted upon. The reason for replacing both sections of curved wall is that it would be very difficult to match the existing stone finish when the new right hand wall is constructed, so it makes sense to replace both curved walls with new to make them matching.

We have liaised with Peter Keenan, of the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, on other tree matters related to the site and we will liaise with Mr Keenan on the design of the foundations for the new wall to ensure this complies with his requirements.

The design of the new gateway is fully detailed on the application drawings and we believe will be appropriate for this location. The photograph below is of the gateway recently constructed opposite the proposed works.

Property entrance facing the proposed works

In summary, we believe the proposed works strike a balance between addressing the safety issues associated with the existing entrance, the wish to maintain the existing mature trees to the front boundary and providing an entrance suitable for the previously approved dwelling but without being overly ostentatious.

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We trust that we have provided sufficient information for this application to be considered but should you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact the writer.

Yours faithfully

George Li

For and on behalf of Hartford Ltd.