Received 26.5.04 1079 DoLGE-04 1079
From and Country Planning Acts 1934 to 1999
PLANNING and BUILDING CONTROL
DIRECTORATE
Decision
Do and Officer Initials
R
10/9/04 BJS
R
12/11/04 BJS
A black and white photograph of a large stone church building featuring a prominent tower and arched windows.
Site Analysis
RECEIVED ON
26 MAY 2004
DEPT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT Cornerstone Architects 79 Parliament Street Ramsey, Isle of Man
IM8 1AQ
Tel: 01624 810810
Fax: 01624 810811
Location :
The proposed site lies within the grounds of St Ninians Church in the location currently occupied by St Ninians Hall. It is accessed off St Ninians Road and is separated from the road by a stone wall. There is one ingress point and one egress point.
Site Contours :
The site falls from St Ninians Church down to St Ninians Road with a 5m level difference between the Church building and the perimeter wall on to St Ninians Road. This allows the Church to dominate the surrounding views.
Vegetation / Landscaping :
The site is predominantly grassed with 2no significant tree lines. A semi formal tree line exists on the east boundary between the site and St Ninians Road. A less formal tree line exists between the site and the Nobles Park playing field to the North and includes a few trees of significant size. There is some low level vegetation to the west of St Ninians Hall.
Existing Buildings :
St Ninians Church is a large building of traditional stone construction. The Church occupies the traditional position at the top of the hill and dominates the townscape and the views from Ballanard Road, Glencrutchery Road, Bray Hill, Ballaquayle Road, Somerset Road and St Ninians Road. The status of the church is further emphasised by the absence of any buildings of close proximity to provide a visual buffer.
St Ninians Hall is a ‘modern’ building constructed in architectural masonry and pitched slated roof. Whilst intended to service the church, the ecclesiastical form adopted by the Hall and the materials used, in our opinion, is unsuccessful, as it competes with the existing Church. The hall is a large building, as required by its function, but due to the fall in the site and the positioning of the building, the dominant view of the church has not been compromised. Any future development of the site should adopt similar scale.
Adjoining Residential – traditional semi detached houses face the site. The buildings are two storeys high with pitched tiled roofs. There are no architectural ‘markers’ to be gleaned from these buildings.
Summary :
Any development of the ‘site’ needs to respect the current relationship of St Ninians Church within its urban setting. Existing views need to be maintained of this important landmark building. The siting and scale of the existing hall demonstrates that development of this scale and proximity to the church can happen without diluting the dominance of the church.
The 2 existing tree lines should be maintained to both boundaries and provide ‘feathering’ off of the site.
The important views of St Ninians Church are from Ballaquayle Road and Somerset Road, these views should be maintained and used to influence the planning of buildings on the site.
In terms of building form, the eclectic nature of the surrounding buildings provides little guidance although being set within the ‘church grounds’ the church would provide some obvious directions.
The following marked up photographs and site plan provides a visual analysis of the site.
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