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21/00098/B Page 1 of 4
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Application No. : 21/00098/B Applicant : Mannin Media Ltd Proposal : Alterations and installation of two doorways and three roller shutter doors and alteration to building to form four units for existing Research & Development and Light Industrial (Class 2.2) and / or Storage & Distribution (Class 2.4) Site Address : Media House Ballafletcher Road Cronkbourne Douglas Isle Of Man IM4 4RA
Planning Officer: Mr Nick Salt Photo Taken :
Site Visit :
Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Permitted Date of Recommendation: 12.03.2021 __
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. The proposal is considered to be in accordance with the land use designation for the site as set out in the Area Plan for the East and with General Policy 2, Business Policy 1 and Transport Policy 7 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 in that no unacceptable land use, visual impact, highways or other impacts have been identified.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the following plans and drawings:
2005/PL1000 - Site and Location Plans 2005/PL1005 - Proposed Plans and Elevations __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None __
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21/00098/B Page 2 of 4
Officer’s Report
1.0 THE SITE 1.1 The application site relates to Media House, a part single storey part two storey commercial building on the northern side of Ballfletcher Road. The site has car parking to the south between the building and a grass bank bounding the road, it sits below the road level. Access is via the north and Ballafletcher Farm Road, which starts centrally within the wider Tromode and Ballafletcher Industrial Estate which includes the Driving Test & Vehicle Examination Centre, food production sites and office based commercial enterprises.
1.2 The site is not within any Conservation Area and does not relate to a Registered Building. The land to the west of the site is currently undeveloped but is zoned for industrial development (BE017g).
2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 This planning application proposes the subdivision of the industrial/commercial ground floor section of the building into 4 separate units each accessed via a roller shutter door. 3 additional roller shutter doors will be installed on the south elevation of the building to achieve this, in addition to 2 personnel doors.
3.0 PLANNING POLICY 3.1 The site falls within an area zoned as Industrial on the Area Plan for the East 2020 (inset map for Union Mills and Strang). As such, General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan is the key policy in the conderation of this application.
3.2 General Policy 2 states that development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development: (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them; (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape; (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality; (h) provides satisfactory amenity standards in itself, including where appropriate safe and convenient access for all highway users, together with adequate parking, servicing and manoeuvring space; and (i) does not have an unacceptable effect on road safety or traffic flows on the local highways.
3.3 Business Policy 1 of the IOMSP states that the growth of employment opportunities throughout the Island will be encouraged provided that development proposals accord with the policies of this Plan.
3.4 Transport Policy 7 requires that in all new development, parking provision must be in accordance with the Department's current standards. Parking standards are set out in Appendix 7 of the IOMSP.
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 This application is a resubmission of PA 19/00832/B which was deemed withdrawn in March 2020 due to a lack of information pertaining to highway matters of the application including parking and vehicle tracking movements.
4.2 There is no other recent planning history identified for the site.
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 DOI Highways state that they not oppose this application (16.02.21).
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5.2 Braddan Commissioners do not oppose the proposal (19.02.21).
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 The key considerations in the assessment of this planning application are: o the visual impact on the character and appearance of the site and wider street scene; o highways and parking; o the use of the site.
6.2 Visual Impact 6.2.1 Media House is a large commercial building with a functional/utilitarian appearance, on the outskirts of a wider industrial area. The proposed alterations are on the southern elevation facing the road and therefore would be visible from public view.
6.2.2 The proposed roller doors would replace ground floor windows and would not be out of keeping with the wider building appearance or the character of the area. They would be similar in appearance to an existing roller door on the end of the south elevation. The building's visual impact would not be increased. Overall, the proposal would accord with General Policy 2 in terms of design and appearance.
6.3 Highways and Parking 6.3.1 DOI Highways have reviewed the application and do not consider that any harm to highway safety, access or the parking provision on site would result. The minimum of 31 parking spaces on the site would be retained as existing and the subdivision of the unit would not be considered to significantly increase parking demand on site or highway capacity impacts.
6.3.2 The parking standards require light industrial (Class 2.2) uses to have 1 parking space per 30m2. 1 space per 100m2 is required for Storage (Class 2.4) uses. The ground floor area of the site is approximately 1000m2, and the proposal would therefore broadly accord with the parking standards, even if usage were to be solely Class 2.2 for the units.
6.4 Use 6.4.1 No change of use is proposed for the site, with the Class 2.2 (Reseach & Development, Light Industrial use) and Class 2.4 (storage and distribution) being in keeping with the current uses of the site, and with the Industrial land use designation as per the Area Plan for the East.
6.4.2 The subdivision of one industrial/commercial unit into 4 is considered acceptable, and would provide more flexibility to the site in the interests of economic growth on the Island (as per BP1).
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 In summary, the proposal is considered to be in accordance with the industrial land use designation set out in the Area Plan for the East, and General Policy 2 of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016 in that no unacceptable visual impact, harm to residential amenity or other impacts have been identified.
8.0 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;
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(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 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 : 12.03.2021
Determining officer
Signed : S BUTLER
Stephen Butler
Head of Development Management
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